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Edward Argar
CON✓ Current MP
🏛️ Melton and Syston
📅 2015–2026
1,392 speeches on Hansard record
✅ Votes attended: 92.72% (#12 of 649 MPs)
🟢 Rebelled against party: 0.00%
📝 Topics: Special Educational Needs: Leicestershire, NHS England: Staff, Rape: Victim Support Schemes
Written Answers
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Cabinet Office
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 February 2025, official report of column 631, and the response to WPQ UIN 53059, (a) on what date the inquiry commenced, (b) on what date it concluded and (c) when its findings will be made…
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To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 February 2025, Official Report, col. 631, (a) on what date the inquiry commenced, (b) on what date it concluded and (c) when its findings will be made public.
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the value to the UK economy of the horse racing industry.
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Department for Education
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her contribution of 4 November 2024, official report column 46, and to WPQ UIN 53062, (a) on what date the leak inquiry commenced, (b) on what date it concluded and (c) when its findings will be made public.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils were receiving SEN support at school in Leicestershire in July 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were waiting for an education, health and care plan to be issued in Leicestershire as of July 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children had a education, health and care plan in Leicestershire as of July 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children had been waiting more than 20 weeks for a education, health and care plan in Leicestershire as of July 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children with an education, health and care plan are in a mainstream setting in Leicestershire.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of Ofsted making a separate judgment on SEN provision in schools on its published inspection report.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her oral contribution of 4 November 2024, Official Report, col. 46, (a) on what date the leak inquiry commenced, (b) on what date the inquiry concluded and (c) when its findings will be made public.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which state secondary schools in Leicestershire county council area have no school places available.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many vacant state secondary school places there were in (a) Leicestershire County Council LA area, (b) Melton Borough and (c) Melton and Syston constituency on 6 September 2024.
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Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the equitability of National Grid's transition from the purchase of wayleaves to the purchase of easements with one-off payments for hosting grid infrastructure.
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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency's budget for flood prevention and mitigation was in Leicestershire in the 2023-24 financial year.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of developments on flood risks in Leicestershire.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what additional (a) funding and (b) support his Department has provided to (i) communities and (ii) local authorities in Leicestershire to help tackle the impact of recent flooding.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) economic impact of the bluetongue restrictions on affected farmers and (b) animal health impact of the bluetongue restriction.
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Department for Transport
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the annual additional lorry miles on concrete deliveries that would rise from cutting the weights of volumetric concrete mobile from 2028.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what environmental impact assessment she has carried out ahead of a decision on whether to ban volumetric concrete mobile plants in 2028.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Local Transport Fund allocations 2025 to 2032, published on 26 February 2024, what her Department's planned timetable is for making available the funding allocated to Leicestershire County Council.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much contingency funding for urgent safety- critical projects National Highways has set aside in its 2024-2025 budget for in-year funding bids.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria National Highways use when determining which junctions qualify for funding for safety improvements.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents involving (a) fatalities, (b) serious injuries and (c) minor injuries have occurred at (i) Nottingham road, (ii) Belvoir road, (iii) Grantham road, (iv) Castle view road and (v) Muston lane junction on the A52 in each…
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Department for Work and Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Melton Borough claimed pension credit in 2023.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in the Melton Borough received winter fuel allowance payments in 2023.
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Department of Health and Social Care
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) named day questions, and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by his Department within the required timescale in (i) May 2025, (ii) June 2025, (iii) July 2025, (iv) August 2025, (v) September 2025 and (vi)…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total budget was for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-2025 and (c) 2025-6 financial years.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total full FTE headcount employed by Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland ICS was in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025 as at 1st January of each year.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Mayor of Leicester on local government reorganisation; and on what dates since 1 January 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) named day questions and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by his Department within the required timescale in (i) January 2025, (ii) February 2025, (iii) March 2025 and (iv) April 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Urgent Question on the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service on 19 May 2025, what estimate he has made of when the new national programme will be in operation.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed by NHS England on 1 April 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of NHS England's staff were clinically qualified as of 1 March 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed by NHS England as of 1 March 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answers of 4 April 2025 to Questions (a) 41903, (b) 41902 and (c) 41906, how many full time equivalent staff are employed in NHSE transformation team; and how many full time equivalent staff it will employ when fully…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England executives that receive redundancy packages will be eligible to be rehired into civil service roles and retain those redundancy payments.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from what date Baroness Casey is contracted to start work on the social care commission.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what new roles at director level or above he plans to create in his Department following the closure of NHS England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the projected net change in (a) civil service and (b) public sector employees is as a result of abolishing NHS England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of NHS England's staff who will be retained in a new roles within government or other public services when NHS England is abolished.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which of NHS England's current responsibilities will be outsourced to private sector consultancies or external firms when it is abolished.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which of NHS England's responsibility will not be brought into the Department of Health and Social Care, following NHS England's abolition.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the net financial savings by year from the abolition of NHS England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what external consultancy support has been procured to advise on restructuring following the announcement of the abolition of NHS England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of NHS England's staffing budget that will transfer to other public sector organisations.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations in respect of pelvic mesh made by the (a) Cumberlege report of 2020 and (b) Hughes report of 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the proposals of the East Midlands fertility policy review on the number of IVF cycles set out in that review.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) improve access to and (b) reduce waiting lists for the UK's 9 independent NHS pelvic mesh centres.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution by the Minister for Secondary Care of 18 December 2024, Official Report, column 345, when he chaired the first of the weekly winter preparedness meetings.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 22633 on NHS: Weather, on what date in early December he first chaired a winter preparedness weekly meeting.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with refence to his oral statement of 20 January 2025 on New Hospital Programme Review, Official Report columns 748-750s, what the (a) pre-construction works, (b) full construction start and (c) completion date in his re-phasing of the new…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the NHS England 987 inclusion health scheme on access to A&E services outside of the scope of that scheme.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the total cost to the hospice sector of the increase in employers National Insurance contributions.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts have declared a critical incident since 1 December 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of patients who (a) were medically fit to be discharged and (b) were not discharged from hospital on 1 December 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he has met NHS England's (a) National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care and (b) Deputy Chief Operating Officer on NHS winter preparedness.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of patients waited longer than four hours in A&E in (a) September, (b) October and (c) November 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding was allocated to promote the update of the influenza vaccine in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS (a) 111 and (b) 999 call handlers there were on (i) 1 September, (ii) 1 October, (iii) 1 November and (iv) 1 December 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulances were in use in the NHS in (a) September, (b) October and (c) November 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of (a) ordinary and (b) named day written questions received a holding response from his Department in the first instance between 5 July 2024 and 22 November 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of (a) ordinary and (b) named day written questions were responded to by his Department within required timescales between 5 July and 22 November 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional inpatient beds in acute settings he has funded NHS England to commission for (a) November 2024, (b) December 2024, (c) January 2025 and (d) February 2025 above the total number available in October 2024.
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Home Office
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department will publish its expanded fraud strategy.
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Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of planning control and enforcement in preventing (i) vibration and (ii) damage to neighbouring properties during construction works.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of Land Registry application processing times; and what steps she is taking to improve those times.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to reopen the next round of the Community Ownership Fund for applications.
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Ministry of Justice
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what male supportive gender specific rape and abuse support services were commissioned directly by his Department in 2025; and if he will list each service and how much spending was allocated to each in 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of calls to the 24/7 rape support line were answered substantively within 5 minutes in a) July 2025, b) August 2025 , c) September 2025 , d) October 2025, e) November 2025 and f) December 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the number of calls to the 24/7 rape support line in a) July 2025, b) August 2025 , c) September 2025 , d) October 2025, e) November 2025 and f) December 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many call handlers were employed to staff the 24/7 rape support line in a) July 2025, b) August 2025, c) September 2025, d) October 2025, e) November 2025, and f) December 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of calls to the 24/7 Rape Support Line were answered in a) July 2025, b) August 2025, c) September 2025, d) October 2025, e) November 2025 and f) December 2025.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when will the strategic governance review of the Probationary Service be published.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what percentage of women sentenced to custody in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025 received sentences of six months and fewer.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of Crown Courts had specialist rape courts in place on 1 January 2026.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what date the last of the prisoners who were released in error in September 2024 under the SDS40 early release scheme returned to prison.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of the total numbers of prisoners released early under the SDS40 release scheme have not had accommodation to go to on day of release since 10 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her oral contribution on 10 September 2024, Official Report, column 690, whether probation directors have contracted hotel accommodation for prisoners released under the SDS40 scheme since 10 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners released at 40% of sentence point under her Department's early release scheme have been recalled to prison since 10 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released with 40% of sentence served under her Department's early release scheme since 10 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of the prisoners released at the 40 percent of sentence point under her SDS40 early release scheme, have subsequently been accused of committing a further offence since 20 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released in error under her Department's early release scheme since 10 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of her Department's (a) ordinary and (b) named day written parliamentary questions were answered within the required timeframes between 12 July and 12 September 2024.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of prison places made available in the adult male estate as a result of the prisoner early release scheme.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Ministers in her Department have had discussions with the Prison Officers' Association on the issuing of PAVA spray to prison officers in the youth estate since the general election.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of using accommodation contracted by the Home Office to provide housing for prisoners released when they have served 40% of their sentences.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of prisoners who will be released having served 40% of their sentences who will not have stable accommodation to be released to.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of recent changes to the prisoner early release scheme on demand for housing from local authorities.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the written ministerial statement of 21 May 2024 entitled Prisons safety update: wet-shave razors, HCWS493, whether she plans to implement the phased removal of wet-shave razors from an initial 30 prisons in the adult male closed estate.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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There is no such thing as the overcrowding alleviation scheme. HMPPS uses crowding where necessary and appropriate to ensure there is sufficient prison capacity to lock up offenders.
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We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including boosting salaries and launching our first-ever nationwide advertising campaign. These efforts are working - we have over 4,800 FTE additional officers between March 2017 and December 2023 and retention rates for prison…
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Staffing levels across HMPPS are publicly available in the “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce quarterly” Official Statistics release, published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics. Information on the number of staff by…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data, and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community.
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Public protection remains our priority. End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) is a temporary measure and its use is under constant review. The most serious and dangerous offenders are excluded, including all those convicted for sexual or serious violent offences, and offenders whose release is a…
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Central HMPPS teams identify the prisoners who are potentially eligible for release on End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and provide this to the relevant prisons and to the probation service. Extensive operational guidance on ECSL is issued to prisons and probation to guide them through the…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases, such as deaths of offenders in the community.
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The number of prisoners transferred each year is published in table 3_A_28 available at Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The data for which Category prisons that prisoners have been transferred to can be found in the attached table. Prisoners…
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We are unable to provide data on street homelessness beyond 31 March 2023 as that data is a subset of data due for future publication and releasing it at this time would breach official statistics publication rules, as outlined in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Data for the latest six-month…
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Ministers and senior officials continue to engage closely with leaders responsible for HMP Lewes in a variety of ways, not limited to in-person meetings and site visits.The Prison Group Director for Kent, Surrey and Sussex frequently visits HMP Lewes, and his assessment of conditions at the prison…
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The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including leavers, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 March 2024.Data relating to the number of prison officers who left service in the high security estate, broken down by calendar year, since 2010, has…
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The starts and completions for accredited programmes delivered in custody between March 2010 and March 2023 for (i) offender behaviour, (ii) sex offender, (iii) substance misuse, (iv) domestic violence and (v) extremism programmes are provided in figures 3.1 and 3.2 in Prison Education and…
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Information on the number of public sector prison staff who were subject to conduct & disciplinary action since 2014/15 is given in table 1 in the attached spreadsheet. Figures are presented by financial year up to 2022-23. While the vast majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest,…
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The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information and the latest publication covers data up to 31 March 2024. HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Ensuring we attract people with the right skills and retain them so they can…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. We cannot provide any…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. Figures on the number of…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. We cannot provide any…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. There are strict eligibility…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. The Prisons and Probation…
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No police officers have been seconded to cover shifts in HMP Wandsworth in the last 30 days.
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The workforce position, at 31 March 2024, was 20,758 FTE Staff in Post working in Probation Service grades (including those working in Approved Premises). This is an increase of 728 FTE (3.6%) since 31 March 2023. Recruitment and retention remain a priority across the Probation Service and we have…
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The Ministry of Justice engaged with key Criminal Justice System partners, including the judiciary and legal profession, in advance of the activation of Operation Early Dawn.
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Where a prisoner is authorised to temporarily leave prison, including hospital visits and release on temporary licence (ROTL), their bed remains allocated to them. This reflects the fact that such absences are strictly time limited and the prisoner must return within the short term. Their bed is…
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Operation Early Dawn is an existing contingency measure to ensure sufficient governance exists between HMPPS, the Prison Escort Custody Service (PECS) and HMCTS to maintain the effective management of prisoner transfers between courts and custody. It involves an operational assessment being made…
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Operation Early Dawn is a contingency designed to mitigate impacts across the Criminal Justice System. We monitor system impacts but it is hard to say how many appearances in the magistrates courts were delayed because of Operation Early Dawn, as this data is not collected in our management…
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As the costs of rehabilitation programmes approved by the Correctional Service and Accredited Panel cannot be disaggregated from the overall budgetary provision for rehabilitative delivery costs, the information requested is not available.
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Following a period of staffing challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a substantial improvement in the national staffing picture within prisons. The number of Band 3-5 Prison Officers increased by 1,396 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024, and…
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It is not possible to break down the charge of trafficking into the specific categories of drugs, weapons, tobacco, or other illicit material in our departmental-wide data.The vast majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is…
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HMP Dartmoor is an historic prison, constructed in 1809 which received Grade 2 heritage listing in 1987, and so is a complex suite of buildings that need to be fully understood to ensure any mitigation action taken to manage the presence of radon gas will be effective.It is important to ensure the…
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We have taken significant action through the Victim’s and Prisoner Bill to curtail IPP licence periods to give offenders the opportunity to move on with their lives. In addition to these changes, the actions this Government is taking are working: the number of prisoners serving the IPP…
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The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.HMPPS defines a known corruptor as an individual (usually a prisoner or supervised individual) who has received an…
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ECSL brings forward the normal release of some offenders. There are strict eligibility criteria which exclude the most serious and dangerous offenders, including all sexual and serious violent offenders. Offenders who may be eligible for release under these arrangements will be subject to the same…
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Prison population figures are published weekly at Prison population figures: 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This publication also shows the operational capacity of the prison system as well as the weekly change. The monthly reports at the same link also provide further population information broken…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data, and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community
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It remains at the discretion of the prison service to prevent the End of Custody Supervised Licence release of any prisoners where releasing an offender earlier presents a heightened risk than if they were released at their automatic release date. A panel formed of HMPPS senior leaders take…
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End of Custody Supervised License (ECSL) only operates in the prisons where it is required, and it is currently not operating in the women’s estate. The use of ECSL is under constant review and prior to extending its use in the male estate the impact on the criminal justice system, victims…
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End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community. Release under ECSL follows…
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In her December 2023 report, the then Chief Inspector of Probation suggested exploring options that may allow more prompt release of IPPs including using Fixed Term Recall (FTR), to reduce the uncertainty and despair felt by many after recall. This Government is taking action to curtail IPP licence…
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Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) are the set of arrangements through which the Police, Probation and Prison Services work together with other agencies to assess and manage the risks posed by violent, sexual and terrorism offenders in the community. There are four categories of…
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There is no place in His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) for any form of unacceptable behaviour. Any allegation of unacceptable behaviour is taken seriously and investigated. Where appropriate, disciplinary action is taken. The Tackling Unacceptable Behaviours Unit (TUBU) was…
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Figures for random Mandatory Drug Testing (rMDT) for 2023/24 cannot be released at this time, as rMDT data for April 2023 - March 2024 is subject to future publication in the 2023-24 HMPPS Annual Digest, to be published in July 2024.
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The information requested is not held centrally for adult women. The Ministry of Justice does not hold use of force data that covers the whole time period requested for adult women. Data for girls, children and young people can be found within the Safety in the Childrens and Young Persons Secure…
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HMPPS takes the findings of every HMI Prisons inspection seriously and responds to each with a detailed action plan that seeks to address all concerns raised within the inspection report. For privately run prisons, HMPPS works closely with the Prison operator to ensure that the expected standards…
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Data on finds for April 2023 onwards is subject to future publication. Data to March 2024 will be released on 25th July, in the 23/24 HMPPS Annual Digest. Figures for the number of finds within prison custody, including finds of weapons, are published once per year on a financial year basis in the…
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The below table provides a summary of the number of prison places that have opened in each year since 2019. This includes places delivered as part of the 20,000 places portfolio, including two new c.1,700 place prisons and new prison places delivered through houseblocks and Rapid Deployment Cells…
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The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at HMP Parc write two separate reports, one for the Young Person’s Unit (YPU) and one for the adult prison. Publication dates for (a) the YPU report covering 01 March 2021 – 31 March 2023, (b) the adult prison report covering 01 April 2022 –…
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His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) is operationally independent of Government and is responsible for deciding its own inspection programme. Therefore, the Government is not normally notified of inspections in advance, except in rare cases where the Chief Inspector believes a notice…
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The Ministry of Justice continues to focus on the use technology to disrupt the supply of drugs, mobile phones and other illicit items into prisons, including through assessing the provision of equipment across the prison estate. Following His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons report…
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The information requested regarding average time-out-of-room spent by children and young people in young offender institutions during April 2024 is shown in the table below. Cookham WoodFelthamParcWerringtonWetherbyWeekdays4:164:288:204:405:05Weekends4:193:516:283:303:40 We know the importance of…
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The Government’s £100m Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the closed adult male estate. As of October…
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As part of our commitment to build 20,000 prison places, the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era, we have so far delivered c.730 Rapid Deployment Cells (RDCs) across 13 sites, and we are pushing ahead with hundreds more.
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The information requested is not held centrally.
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Since February 2024, all prisoners subject to mandatory drug testing in prisons have been tested for fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. We are working closely with our contracted drug testing provider to further improve our capabilities to test prisoners for other synthetic opioids, including…
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The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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The number of self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence on licence in the community in England and Wales in each year between April 2019 and March 2023 are shown in the table.Self-inflicted deaths of offenders serving an Imprisonment for Public…
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Under sections 47/49 of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Secretary of State may authorise by warrant the transfer of sentenced prisoners to a mental health hospital, where he is satisfied that the criteria for detention are met by the aforementioned Act. Thereby, and for the duration of the period…
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Staff are deployed on national detached duty (NDD) as a tactical response to support prisons which require it, to cover staffing shortfalls or to meet other operational requirements. NDD is a vital contingency measure to assist H M Prison & Probation Service to maintain good order and security in…
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The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority: the Ministry of Justice continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.As of 31 March, 13 FNOs were held under immigration powers after their conditional release date at HMP Wandsworth,…
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The number and proportion of prisoners in HMP Wandsworth serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and Detention for Public Protection sentences (DPP), as at 31 March 2024, are set out in the table below.Sentence typeNumber of prisonersProportion of the total population at HMP…
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Data on End of Custody Supervised Licence will be published when sufficient robust and comprehensive data is available. To support orderly release, its publication will be announced through the gov.uk release calendar.
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We publish the number of assaults and serious assaults against prison staff, broken down by establishment, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, in Table 8e and 8f of the summary tables, available at the following…
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Prison governors are responsible for ensuring that their establishments respond promptly and appropriately to medical emergencies, and all prison staff must be aware of their responsibilities for responding to a medical emergency (including resuscitation, and ligature removal) and of the local…
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Information on how many former prison guards were found guilty of criminal offences in each year since 2015 is not centrally held.This is because the information cannot be obtained from the administrative systems held for the public authority purposes by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal…
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It is standard practice not to comment on discussions between Ministers and the judiciary.The Lord Chancellor is supportive of any efforts to help ensure sufficient capacity in the courts to hear bail applications and to remove principal structural barriers to applications being submitted, and he…
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The method for recording counter terrorism training data has changed over time, so the information requested cannot be provided. Since December 2021, over 17,000 directly employed HMPPS prison staff have been trained in counter terrorism (through the Awareness for Staff on Prevent Extremism and…
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Drug finds are classified as incidents in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service published data. The number of incidents of drug finds, broken down by drug type can be found at the following link:…
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HMP Wandsworth’s main function is to hold unsentenced prisoners while their cases progress through the courts. Once prisoners are sentenced, they are categorised and can then be transferred to a prison with an appropriate security category if required. On 02 May 2024, there were 313 prisoners…
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As of Monday 29 April 2024, 54 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who had been sentenced were awaiting prison category assessment. This represents 3.6 per cent of the prison’s total population and 15.9 per cent of sentenced offenders at the prison.Categorisation reviews ensure that, throughout their…
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We are unable to answer the question about the number of prisoners at HMP Wandsworth that were recalled to custody while on release on temporary licence (ROTL). HMP Wandsworth is a category B, closed prison. There is no expectation that closed prisons deliver ROTL even though some of the population…
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As of 31 March 2024, there were 139 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing. The proportion of HMP Wandsworth prisoners who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing as of 31 March 2024 was 18.8% of the convicted population. These figures have been…
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We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs in all our prisons.We have an ambitious 10-year Drug Strategy, which sets out our cross-government plan to address illegal drug use. It is underpinned by a record level of additional investment, as part of which the Ministry of Justice is rolling out a…
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As of 31 March 2024, there were 785 prisoners at HMP Wandsworth on remand awaiting trial, 51.1% of its total population. 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…
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The number of incidents of assaults involving weapons, broken down by weapon type, can be found in table 3.10 of the following link (taken from the published ‘Safety in Custody statistics quarterly update to December 2023’):…
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In each year since 2019, there have been 2 staff in Welsh prisons who were investigated or recommended for dismissal for trafficking through internal disciplinary procedures.Data relating to staff investigated or recommended for dismissal for having an inappropriate relationship with…
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HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy of smuggling of contraband into prisons, such as drugs and mobile phones, including by staff. The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated.We are determined to recruit the right people into our frontline positions, which…
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HM Prison and Probation Service does not currently have legal permission to use X-ray body scanners on staff working in prisons. As such, no prison officers are searched by an X-ray body scanner upon entry to prison.All persons may be searched on entry to or within prisons, including prison staff.…
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We are investing £155 million in funding each year into the Service and recruited over 4000 new probation officers since reunification of the Probation Service in 2021 to deliver better and more consistent supervision of offenders in the community.Delivering public protection and cutting crime…
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In many cases – particularly for lower-level offending – there is persuasive evidence that sentences served in the community, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending and rehabilitation in certain circumstances.The Department’s statistics show that…
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In June 2023, we launched three Intensive Supervision Courts to divert offenders away from short custodial sentences and tackle the root causes of their offending, two at Liverpool and Teesside Crown Courts for offenders with substance misuse needs, and one focused on female offenders at Birmingham…
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The attached table shows the number of fire incidents in each prison in each year since 2016. Information about fire incidents before 2016 is not available, because the records, which were held locally, have been destroyed in line with our retention policy. In 2016, a new centralised national…
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There is persuasive evidence indicating that community sentences in general can be more effective for reducing reoffending than custodial sentences. The Department’s latest published reoffending statistics (Proven reoffending statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) show that 55% of those released…
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The decision to remand an individual in custody or to grant bail is solely a matter for the independent judiciary acting in accordance with the law. The Ministry of Justice therefore cannot intervene in any decision made by the court. The procedures for considering bail and custodial remand are set…
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The Adult Court Bench Book provides guidance for magistrates who sit in the adult court dealing mainly with defendants aged 18 or over. The Bench Book covers bail and remand and indicates the considerations that must be taken on whether to bail or remand a defendant. If a bail application is made,…
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The Ministry of Justice works closely with NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that all prisoners who need it have access to high-quality substance misuse treatment.This includes:increasing the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units from 25 in summer 2022…
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The latest information on random mandatory drug testing in prisons can be found in the HMPPS Annual Digest here: HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2022 to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).All prisons have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs, and we are highly aware of the threat synthetic substances…
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The information requested regarding average time-out-of-room spent by children and young people in young offender institutions during March 2024 is shown in the table below. Cookham WoodFelthamParcWerringtonWetherbyWeekdays3:394:548:484:295:36Weekends2:394:206:223:063:50We know the importance of…
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We closely monitor staffing levels across the estate via a number of internal governance forums, which assess the vacancy levels for individual prisons and across regions and functions, including the Long Term High Security Estate (LTHSE). Vacancies are one of a number of contributory factors that…
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All prisons have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs, and we are highly aware of the threat synthetic drugs present. In response, HMPPS has developed capabilities to drug test prisoners who are suspected to have used, or are at risk of using, these dangerous substances. In addition, all prisons have…
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We are constantly monitoring the use of End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and its impact.We are taking action to drive down the reoffending rate for all offenders by investing in a wide range of rehabilitative interventions to get them into skills training, work, and stable accommodation.…
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The number of releases under End of Custody Supervised Licence will be published when sufficient robust and comprehensive data is available. To support orderly release, its publication will be announced through the GOV.UK release calendar.
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The syllabus for training staff in under-18 young offender institutions and the secure training centre in Managing and Minimising Physical Restraint (MMPR) focuses exclusively on behaviour management and restraint.It is essential that staff are trained for every aspect of their role, including in…
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As the responsible minister for prisons, I receive regular updates on their conditions and performance, including those at HMP Wandsworth, via a variety of means, including through formal face to face discussion such as the quarterly Ministerial Performance Review Board meetings. Additionally, the…
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HMP Wandsworth has benefitted from our £100 million investment in tough security measures, introducing x-ray body scanning for prisoners and enhanced gate security provisions for visitors and staff, which includes archway metal detectors, drugs dogs and x-ray baggage scanners. These measures…
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Treasury
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of correspondence from hon. Members to her Department was responded to within the required period in each month between July 2024 and August 2025.
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