Tag: Philip Davies

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of a smoking ban in prisons on the number of incidents of violence relating to cigarettes.

Jeremy Wright

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) support the desirability of attaining a smoke free prison estate in the future and continue to work towards this objective. However, the timing of that implementation will take account of the operational realities of running safe, decent and secure prisons and in particular the impact any smoking ban may have on the general safety of staff and prisoners. Therefore the decision on timing to move to smoke free prisons will reflect an operational assessment of risk, which will include an assessment of potentially adverse impact on prisoner behaviour and how this risk can be minimised and effectively managed. This assessment is ongoing and the risks are being carefully considered to ensure effective plans and support are in place before introducing smoke free prisons.

The work by NOMS on moving to a smoke free prison estate will continue to be informed by the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies in Nottingham University; by further assessments of air quality in prisons; and by the work with Public Health England and expertise from the New Zealand prison service which has introduced smoke free prisons.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2014, Official Report, column 641W, on reoffenders, what (a) offence type and (b) sentence length each offender with more than one fixed term recall is serving.

Jeremy Wright

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-04-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of hours spent on temporary release in a week by a prisoner was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright

Prisoners may be released on temporary licence for reasons linked to their resettlement needs and sentence plans, or where there are compelling circumstances that justify the release. Last month, we announced a range of measures to strengthen the existing temporary release provisions to ensure that the right balance is always struck between facilitating resettlement and protecting the public. Under our plans, public protection will always take priority.

Data on the number of hours for which prisoners are released on temporary licence is not collated centrally.

Data on temporary releases in 2012 is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistical-notice-releases-on-temporary-licence-2012

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners being held in prisons in England and Wales are serving sentences passed in jurisdictions outside England and Wales.

Jeremy Wright

As at 31 December 2013, 231 prisoners held in prisons in England and Wales were serving sentences imposed in jurisdictions outside England and Wales. This includes 125 who were convicted overseas, for example in Thailand, Panama and Venezuela, and 106 who were convicted in another UK jurisdiction or the Islands (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle Man).

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 Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of a (a) jury trial at the Crown Court for (i) either way offences sent by magistrates where their sentencing powers were not deemed sufficient, (ii) either way offences where the defendant has chosen to elect jury trial and (iii) indictable only offences and (b) trial in a magistrates’ court for (i) summary only offences and (ii) either way offences in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shailesh Vara

The information requested is not currently available in full. An analysis of criminal court costs is based on average timings from Activity Based Costing allocations models. Some of the timings in the models are based on a timing survey, conducted in a representative sample of courts. Undertaking a new survey to support an analysis of costs in a different way to that currently available could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Some of the information is available. There are a number of different ways costs of cases can be estimated, depending on how indirect costs are apportioned. Estimates below are based on 2012/13 costs (up-rated to 2013/14 prices).

Costs at the Crown Court are analysed by offence type (criminal damage, burglary, drug offences etc) rather than by how the offence has come to be heard in the Crown Court. Estimates are based on average trial lengths – individual trials for any given case may be longer or shorter. The lower and upper trial cost estimates shown below are the weighted average of upper and lower estimates for all either way or indictable offence types.

Summary offences in the magistrates’ court have been split into motoring and non-motoring offence types.

These figures do not include legal aid costs.

Costs shown to the nearest £100.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in each prison establishment are not being held in relation to criminal proceedings; and what the reason is for their being so held in each case.

Jeremy Wright

As of the 31 December 2013, 1,230 people were being held in prisons in England and Wales not in relation to criminal proceedings.

Of these, 1,214 were being held as immigration detainees and 16 were being held for civil offences (for example non-payment of a debt, contempt of court, or breach of an injunction).

The agreement to hold time served foreign national offenders (Immigration Detainees) in prisons is set out in a Service Level Agreement between NOMS and the Home Office and is designed to support the Home Office in achieving its objectives for removal.

Reducing the FNO population is a top priority for this Government. We are working hard to reduce the flow of FNOs into our prison system and increase the number of FNOs removed from the UK through Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS).

Table 1 (attached) provides a breakdown of the population who are not held in relation to criminal proceedings by prison establishment.