Tag: Lord Falconer of Thoroton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many volunteers there are currently carrying out work in each prison in England and Wales.

Lord Faulks

This information is not held centrally. The Ministry of Justice facilitates a wide and varied range of opportunities for volunteers to work with offenders, within prisons and in the community, and also directly recruits volunteers to sit on its Independent Monitoring Boards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average length of sentence of offenders sentenced after having been returned to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant.

Lord Faulks

This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The National Crime Agency publishes statistics on the operation of the European Arrest Warrant. These can be found on their website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what proportion of cases heard in the Commercial Court in each of the last five years one or more of the parties was domiciled or registered outside the jurisdiction.

Lord Faulks

The attached table shows statistical information for the last 5 years that details the number of claims issued and the number of claims with one or more parties outside of England and Wales. Data for 2014/15 is not yet available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners who have previously absconded remain in open conditions.

Lord Faulks

In May 2014, the Coalition Government introduced a new policy so that prisoners with a history of escape, absconding or serious temporary release failure during the current sentence are prevented from transfer to open conditions, other than in the most exceptional circumstances. There has been only one case satisfying the condition of exceptional circumstances since the policy was implemented. In addition, any prisoner who absconds from an open prison is immediately returned to a higher security prison.

When the policy was implemented, it was not applied retrospectively. Prisoners already in open conditions were reassessed by senior officials in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), and any who were assessed as presenting an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons, with the remainder allowed to remain in open conditions because of their compliance with the regime and favourable risk assessment.

On 4 December 2015, there were 15 prisoners in open prisons who were recorded as having absconded between 1 April 2004 and 21 May 2014 when the policy change came into force.

Reliable electronic records for absconds and temporary release failures prior to 2004 are not available, therefore only incidents since 2004 could be considered. The data set used here includes prisons classified as having their predominant function to be open. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offenders have been sentenced and imprisoned in the UK after having been returned to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant.

Lord Faulks

This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The National Crime Agency publishes statistics on the operation of the European Arrest Warrant. These can be found on their website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much income was generated by the Commercial Court in each of the last 10 years, and what were the operating costs for that Court in each year.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not analyse the income or cost of the Commercial Court in this way. Such information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offenders who are foreign nationals are currently serving a sentence for murder or manslaughter in prisons in England and Wales.

Lord Faulks

Foreign criminals who break our laws should be properly punished but not at the expense of the British taxpayer.

In the last year we have returned more than 5,000 foreign prisoners to their home country. Prisoner transfer agreements are just one way the Government can remove these criminals from the United Kingdom.

As at 30 September 2015, there were 732 foreign nationals serving a sentence for murder or manslaughter in prisons in England and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many British nationals (1) were murdered abroad, and (2) died as a result of terrorism abroad, in each year since 2010.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not hold information on the total number of UK nationals who are victims of murder and manslaughter overseas, because we can only capture information about those cases of which we are notified. However, we have provided assistance in the following number of cases, recorded as murder or manslaughter, from 2010 to 2016:

2010 (68), 2011 (78), 2012 (53), 2013 (78), 2014 (84), 2015 (88).

The number of British nationals killed as a result of terrorism are not captured separately and are included in the figures above. In January 2015, the FCO established a new dedicated team to lead on murder and manslaughter cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total cost to the public purse of their appeal against the High Court’s ruling in R v The Secretary of State for Justice [2014] EWHC 2365 (Admin).

Lord Faulks

As a matter of principle this Government believes that individuals should have a strong connection with the UK in order to benefit from the civil legal aid scheme. We believe that the residence test we have proposed is a fair and appropriate way to demonstrate that strong connection. We have therefore pursued an appeal against the High Court’s judgment in this case.

The total costs to the public purse of pursuing this appeal can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners recorded as taking car driving lessons or tests in the last five years absconded or attempted to abscond during a lesson or test.

Lord Faulks

There is no record of any offender failing to return to prison from temporary release which was authorised to allow them to take driving lessons or tests in the past five years.

Release on temporary licence is designed to prepare prisoners for their eventual release. Public protection is our priority and all offenders considered for temporary release are fully risk assessed.

Prisoners are only permitted to take a driving lesson or test if this is required to help their rehabilitation, for example, by improving their employment prospects, thus reducing their likelihood of reoffending.