Tag: Sadiq Khan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of (a) those in prison and (b) those in prison who self-identified as Muslim were (i) under the age of 18, (ii) aged between 18 and 21, (iii) aged between 21 and 25, (iv) aged between 26 and 30, (v) aged between 31 and 40, (vi) aged between 41 and 50, (vii) aged between 51 and 65 and (viii) aged over 65 years on 1 January 2014.

Jeremy Wright

Data are held centrally on the prison population in England and Wales on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided for 31^st December 2013 (with the exception of PQ 197068 which has been answered as at 30 June 2013 – the latest available data for criminal history information).

For PQ 197067, Table 1 below provides the number for the sentenced prison population by sentence length for self-declared Muslim prisoners and the total for all religions.

For PQ 197068, Table 2 provides the number of offenders in prison on 30th June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial sentences received.

For PQ 197069, Table 3 provides the prison population by nationality for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

For PQ 197090, Table 4 provides the prison population by age group for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.

Please note that the religion of prisoners is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare their religion.

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 Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the closed wings at (a) HM Prison Hull and (b) HM Prison Chelmsford were (i) closed and (ii) re-opened.

Jeremy Wright

We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer

This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate. We will have increased the adult male prison capacity so that we have more places than we inherited from the previous Government.

The retention of significant spare prison capacity over and above what is required is expensive and cannot be justified given the current financial climate. The mothballing of spare capacity at HM Prisons Chelmsford and Hull saved the taxpayer £3.6m in the financial year 2013-14. This compares to the significantly lower cost of maintaining this accommodation on a mothballed basis, so that it could be reactivated if necessary.

We have reviewed the refurbishment requirements at both sites and believe that, with minor investment, they can now be reopened on a contingency basis without carrying out a full refurbishment. These costs are anticipated to be around £132k by the time they have reopened. From the end of March to date, around £12k has been spent on Chelmsford, and around £107k has been spent on Hull.

The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Hull is around 65 members of staff – of which approximately 40 are uniformed. The indicative additional staffing requirement to reactivate the places at Chelmsford is around 30 members of staff – of which approximately 20 are uniformed grades. This means we are able to create additional places at an average cost of £7k per place (subject to final benchmarking review), as opposed to the average cost of a prison per place of £26,139.

The staffing requirement will initially be met by short term detached duty from other prisons, before looking to redeploy staff permanently where surpluses exist – and if necessary through external recruitment.

Subject to certification, Hull will create 282 places and Chelmsford 148 places, with prisoners due to start arriving this summer.

The reactivation of these places is a prudent and good value for money response to an increased prison population. Under the previous administration, police and court cells were turned into temporary prisons, with over 50,000 prisoners held in these cells in 2007-08 alone.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been spent on converting HM Prison The Verne for use as an immigration removal centre to date.

James Brokenshire

£4 million has been spent to date on the conversion of HM Prison The Verne into
an Immigration Removal Centre. The work is about 60% complete and in total is
expected to cost approximately £8.5 million in line with the approved budget.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what shortfalls in staffing (a) including and (b) excluding temporary cover against Target B3 staffing levels there were at the time of the disturbance of HM Prison Northumberland on Saturday 29 March 2014.

Jeremy Wright

The information requested could not be obtained within the timescale. I will write to the Member in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, at what time the disturbance at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014 began; when it ceased; how many prisoners were involved in that disturbance; what injuries were sustained by prisoners and officers; how many prison officers were used to quell the disturbance; and what resources external to the prison were called on to assist in quelling the disturbance.

Jeremy Wright

A disturbance took place in part of one wing at HM Prison Northumberland on 29 March 2014. It began at approximately 4.45pm and the affected wing was secured at 00.35am on 30 March 2014 with no resistance from prisoners. Fifty-seven prisoners were involved with one reporting that he had been assaulted during the incident. No staff injuries were reported and minimal damage was caused.

In response to the incident, Gold Command based at National Offender Management Service (NOMS) headquarters, was opened in support of management locally. In line with normal procedure, mutual aid arrangements involved 84 prison officers, together with local staff, were deployed. The National Tactical Response Group and National Dogs and Technical Support Group, as routine in such incidents, were also activated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what change in full time equivalent staff of each grade there has been at HM Prison Northumberland since the running of the prison was transferred to Sodexo.

Jeremy Wright

The information requested could not be obtained within the timescale. I will write to the Member in due course.