Tag: Lord Beecham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will implement the recommendation made by the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination to collect systemically disaggregated data on hate crimes.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

There is no current intention to disaggregate hate crime data on the grounds of race, but we will keep that under review. Since 2010, we have improved police recording of hate crime. Forces now capture data on all five of the monitored hate crime strands, and from April this year, forces have started to disaggregate hate crime data on the grounds of religion.

We have noted the findings of the Council of Europe’s European Commission on Racism and Intolerance following an inspection of the United Kingdom earlier this year. The Government’s full response to the report can be found as an annex to the publication.

We are clear that there is no excuse for hate crime against anyone of any nationality, ethnicity or religious background – it has no place whatsoever in our diverse society. This commitment is underpinned by some of the strongest legislation in the world.

We welcome that the Commission has recognised the strength of our new hate crime action plan which will help reduce hate crime, increase reporting and improve support for victims. The hate crime action plan contains specific measures to increase the rate of prosecution and ensure that enhanced sentencing powers are used where appropriate.

These measures include refreshed Crown Prosecution Service policy and legal guidance for prosecutors on racially and religiously aggravated crime and on prosecuting social media cases, and publicising convictions and information on enhanced sentencing outcomes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 20 October (HL2620), how much they expect to save in particular in housing benefit payments from the reductions in social rent levied by housing associations.

Lord Freud

Estimates of the total benefit savings due to the reductions in social rent announced in the 2015 Summer Budget were presented in the associated policy costing publication.

The table below shows the amount of the total benefit savings which relates to housing association tenancies. This includes both Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.

Estimated reduction in benefit payments to housing association tenants, £millions, cash terms

	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
Benefit savings relating to Housing Associations	145	425	790	1190	1305

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of report writers and court staff have received training arising from the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014.

Lord Faulks

All staff have received comprehensive guidance on the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014.

A cadre of staff received central training to enable them to train other staff, as required, in the Act’s provisions. We do not hold statistics for the total number of staff who have been trained under this system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many vacancies for qualified staff there are in each National Probation Service region.

Lord Faulks

Staffing levels are kept under constant review to ensure public safety is maintained. A new reporting tool for the National Probation Service is being implemented which will provide functionality to capture vacancies centrally as part of the ongoing development of workforce planning processes and capability.

We continue to invest in a qualified workforce. Last autumn, we made over 270 training places available for new probation officers. A similar number were made available in January this year, and a further intake is planned for April. Recruits undertake on-the-job training and study, and graduate in 15 months as qualified probation officers. This represents the biggest investment in the professionalism of the probation workforce for some considerable time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current sickness rates for practitioners in the National Probation Service; and what were the rates for 2013 and 2014.

Lord Faulks

Information on sickness absence rates among National Probation Service (NPS) staff for the period 1 June – 30 September 2014 was published on 17 November in a Management Information Release. The annualised rate of absence for this period in the NPS was 10.6 working days lost per staff year. Information for the whole of 2014-15 will be published in the Management Information Addendum to the National Offender Management Service Annual Report 2014-15.

Information on sickness absence rates in the former Probation Trusts is published annually in the Management Information Addendum to the National Offender Management Service Annual Report. The sickness absence rate for Probation Trusts for April 2013 to March 2014, published on 30 July 2014 was 9.8 working days lost per person.

The NPS statistics are not directly comparable to the annual Probation Trust data, as they relate to different timescales.

We take the health and wellbeing of probation staff extremely seriously and have worked closely with the NPS to support staff. We recognise this has been a challenging time for them and they can be extremely proud of how they have maintained standards throughout the transition period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budgets have been set for professional development for (1) qualified, and (2) trainee, probation officers.

Lord Faulks

Under the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, probation staff are now employed either by the National Probation Service (NPS) or one of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs).

Probation Officers in the NPS are supported by the National Offender Management Service’s Human Resources Learning & Development team, which delivers professional skills training for the NPS. Funding for this work is found from within the National Offender Management Service’s overall Human Resources budget.

In addition, all NPS staff have free access to Civil Service Learning which includes a range of generic face to face and e-learning modules covering a wide range of subjects.

The professional development of probation officers employed by the 21 CRCs is the responsibility of those companies.

As regards trainee Probation Officers, their training and development is overseen by the National Offender Management Service, through the Probation Qualification Framework (PQF). Recruits undertake on-the-job training and study, leading to graduation in 15 months as qualified probation officers. The final budget for delivery of the PQF will depend on the total number of trainees recruited. Last autumn, we made over 270 training places available for new probation officers and a similar number in January this year. A further intake is planned for April. This represents the biggest investment in the professionalism of the probation workforce for some considerable time. The NPS will continue to use the PQF and the CRCs are also free to do so should they choose.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements are in place to ensure and to monitor the timely production of court reports.

Lord Faulks

The Performance Framework for the National Probation Service (NPS) includes a target for timely delivery of court reports. Data relating to this measure is collected from operational case management systems. This data is validated and used by NPS Performance and Quality Managers to monitor and enhance performance against the target.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the justification for the Ministry of Justice’s refusal to permit visits to any prisons by a reporter from The Guardian.

Lord Faulks

The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.

Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.

We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.

Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below:

• The Guardian were given access to HMP New Hall – http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/30/new-hall-womens-prison-inmates-equals
• BBC and the Sun were giving access to HMP Coldingley
• Regional BBC were giving access to HMP Northumberland (Sodexo run prison)
• Telegraph and Heart Radio were giving access to HMP Drake Hall
• Evening Standard and regional BBC were giving access to HMP Thameside (Serco run prison)
• BBC Radio 4 were giving access to HMP Prescoed/HMP Cardiff
• Sky Sports were giving access to HMP Feltham
• National BBC, regional ITV and the Manchester Evening News were giving access to HMP Styal
• Evening Standard and London Live were giving access to HMP Isis
• East Anglia Daily Times and regional BBC radio were giving access to HMP Hollesley Bay
• Sky News were given access to HMP Ranby
• ITV were given access to HMP Norwich

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what circumstances and with what conditions access to any prison by a journalist would be permitted.

Lord Faulks

The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.

Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.

We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.

Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below:

• The Guardian were given access to HMP New Hall – http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/30/new-hall-womens-prison-inmates-equals
• BBC and the Sun were giving access to HMP Coldingley
• Regional BBC were giving access to HMP Northumberland (Sodexo run prison)
• Telegraph and Heart Radio were giving access to HMP Drake Hall
• Evening Standard and regional BBC were giving access to HMP Thameside (Serco run prison)
• BBC Radio 4 were giving access to HMP Prescoed/HMP Cardiff
• Sky Sports were giving access to HMP Feltham
• National BBC, regional ITV and the Manchester Evening News were giving access to HMP Styal
• Evening Standard and London Live were giving access to HMP Isis
• East Anglia Daily Times and regional BBC radio were giving access to HMP Hollesley Bay
• Sky News were given access to HMP Ranby
• ITV were given access to HMP Norwich

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates were recruited in the last year for which figures are available, and what was the breakdown by ethnicity and gender.

Lord Faulks

A total of 403 magistrates were appointed in England and Wales between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. A breakdown of those appointments can be found in the tables below:

Gender

Male	Female
158 (39%)	245 (61%)

Ethnicity

White	Mixed	Black	Asian	Chinese	Other
333 (83%)	15 (4%)	24 (6%)	22 (5%)	3 (>1%)	6 (2%)

Age

18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
24 (6%)	75 (19%)	97 (24%)	154 (38%)	53 (13%)