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Tag: Philip Davies

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what programmes which receive funding from his Department are available solely to (a) men and (b) women.

    Simon Hughes

    The information required to provide a full response to the question could not be collated within the timeframe available. I will write to the honourable member providing a full reply in due course

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have requested chemical castration in each of the last five years.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and NHS England do not provide for chemical castration of prisoners.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made implementing the recommendations of Getting It Right for Victims and Witnesses, Cm 8288, published in January 2012; and if he will make a statement.

    Damian Green

    We have made great progress in implementing all recommendations from the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ consultation.

    • From 1st October this year the majority of support services for victims of crime will be commissioned locally by PCCs, who are best placed to understand the needs of victims in their community. MoJ are nationally commissioning a number of services for victims and witnesses, specifically the Homicide Service, the court based witness service and the rape support fund, as well as some national helplines for victims.
    • Support services, whether commissioned locally or nationally, will for the first time be focused on outcomes, supporting victims to cope with the immediate impacts of crime, and as far as is possible, help them to recover.
    • The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime came into force on 10 December 2013. The Code gives victims of crime clearer entitlements from the criminal justice system and tailors services to individual need so they get the right support at the right time. It also includes a section dedicated to people under 18, their parents and guardians and a separate chapter for businesses.
    • We wanted to give victims a stronger voice in the criminal justice system. That is why the new Victims’ Code entitles victims to make a Victim Personal Statement to leave the in no doubt about the impact of their crime on the victim. The Code now includes an improved complaints process.
    • The Government has also published the Witness Charter alongside the Victims’ Code, which demonstrates our commitment to improving all witnesses’ experience of the criminal justice system.
    • We are currently piloting pre-trial cross-examination in Leeds, Liverpool and Kingston–upon–Thames Crown Courts, allowing vulnerable witnesses to give evidence in advance and sparing them from facing questioning during the trial.
    • We reformed the Victim Surcharge in October 2012 to increase fines and extend it to a wider range of cases to ensure more offenders pay towards the cost of victims’ services. Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) were increased from 1 July 2013 for the same aim. A clause included in the ASB, Crime and Policing Act 2014 will prevent offenders sentenced in the magistrates’ courts from discharging the Surcharge as additional days in custody.
    • We implemented a revised Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in November 2012 that focuses on seriously injured victims of serious crime.
    • More money than ever before will be available for services to support victims of crime, with a potential total budget of up to £100m, double MOJ’s current spending of around £50m.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in open prisons were returned to closed prisons in each of the last three years by (a) reason for their return and (b) type of offence originally committed.

    Jeremy Wright

    We do not centrally hold data on the individual reasons for determinate sentence prisoner transfers, including transfers following re-categorisation and when prisoners have been returned to closed conditions from open prisons. Where this is available, the information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would involve a manual trawl through the records of every prisoner to identify if they have ever been held in open conditions and subsequently returned to closed conditions.

    However, the information, in part, is centrally available in respect of indeterminate sentence prisoners.

    Table 1 provides the number of indeterminate sentence prisoners who have been returned from open conditions to closed conditions and where the transfer occurred between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2014, grouped by year and by reason for transfer. The data has been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

    We are unable to provide a breakdown of this information by index offence as this information is not held centrally; to obtain it would require a manual trawl through every case and this would incur disproportionate cost.

    REASON FOR RETURN TO CLOSED PRISON

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    Grand Total

    Abscond

    117

    161

    170

    448

    Antisocial Behaviour

    48

    96

    74

    218

    Breach of Licence Conditions

    30

    33

    56

    120

    Drink/Drugs

    139

    171

    256

    568

    FNP

    3

    3

    Healthcare issues

    5

    5

    New charges/offences

    2

    2

    Non compliance

    1

    28

    29

    Other

    135

    235

    298

    668

    Prisoner request

    2

    2

    Psychology concerns/issues

    6

    6

    Serious breach of prison rules

    1

    21

    22

    Grand Total

    469

    698

    921

    2,087

    The main purpose of open conditions is to test prisoners in conditions more similar to those that they will face in the community. Time spent in open prisons affords prisoners the opportunity to find work, re-establish family ties, reintegrate into the community and ensure housing needs are met. For many prisoners who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these can assist in their successful reintegration in the community and protecting the public.

    We make no apologies for taking a firm approach in returning prisoners to closed conditions wherever we need to do so.

    The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. With immediate effect, prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants charged with each offence type were sent to the Crown Court for sentence by magistrates in each of the last five years.

    Shailesh Vara

    The answers to both questions are contained in the following tables:

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners were released on temporary licence by way of (i) resettlement day release, (ii) resettlement overnight release and (iii) childcare resettlement in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    Table 1 presents the number of individuals who were granted each of these temporary licence (ROTL) release types, broken down by gender, for 2012, which is the latest year for which published figures are available.

    An individual prisoner can have a number of different types of ROTL over a period of time. Where an individual received more than one type of ROTL within the year, this individual has been counted once under each type received. Therefore there will be some individuals who are counted more than once in the table presented.

    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.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what cross-departmental government scrutiny will take place of the forthcoming Implementing and Delegated Acts of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

    Jane Ellison

    During the negotiations on the revised Tobacco Products Directive, the Government sought to ensure that any delegation of powers to the European Commission, to propose further rules, was limited, appropriate and well defined. The Government’s proposed negotiating position on any Implementing and Delegated Acts put forward by the Commission will be subject to the normal cross government clearance and scrutiny procedures.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 406W, on remand in custody, what proportion of the total number of defendants charged with the relevant offences the figures represent.

    Jeremy Wright

    The table below shows the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence groups and the number of defendants who were remanded in custody, broken down by sex. It also shows the percentage of defendants remanded in custody out of the total number of defendants proceeded against for the specified offence categories.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in an open prison have previously breached a licence condition while released on temporary licence.

    Jeremy Wright

    Keeping the public safe is our priority. That is why this Government has taken action on both releases on temporary licence (ROTL) and absconds from prison.

    We commissioned a fundamental review of ROTL policy and practice last year and, in March, announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. We have brought forward some of those measures so that they take effect immediately; particularly with more serious offenders, where the review concluded that an enhanced risk assessment approach should be taken.

    Absconds have reached record lows under this Government but each incident is taken seriously. Immediate changes have already been ordered to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded.

    My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to you in due course.

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of eligible (a) male and (b) female offenders were recalled on a fixed term recall instead of a standard recall (i) in 2008, (ii) in 2009, (iii) in 2010, (iv) in 2011, (v) in 2012 and (vi) since 3 December 2012.

    Jeremy Wright

    It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the Honourable member in due course.