Tag: Lord Beecham

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the Department of Health in relation to the increase in the use by the police of powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act; and with what result.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Home Office and Department of Health have been working to increase the use of alternative joint health and policing approaches and interventions that reduce the need for the police to use their formal powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. Whilst overall police use of section 136 has increased, from just under 15,000 in 2011/12 to 19,410 in 2014/15, the use of police cells has reduced from just under 9,000 in 2011/12 to 2,100 in 2015/16.

As a result of joint work with the Department of Health those suffering a mental health crisis are more likely to be offered alternative support. The introduction of initiatives such as street triage schemes and community based places of safety provide an alternative to the use of police cells. These types of interventions are proving successful and the Home Office is seeking to promote their use nationally using the £15m funding made available by the Department of Health to increase the availability of alternative places of safety.

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 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%)

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 for each decile by age.

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%)

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to divert part or all of the £160m JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises) 2 fund, succeeding the Finance for Business North East fund, to other Northern areas described as part of the Northern Powerhouse; and if so, what proportion of funding will be diverted, and why they are taking such action.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government has no intention of imposing any arrangements for the next round of ERDF ‘JEREMIE’ style Access to Finance funds that do not carry local support.