Written questions by Lowe.

How many assaults against prison staff foreign national offenders committed in each of the last ten years.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. This information is unavailable.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 13567 on Reoffenders: Foreign Nationals, how many reoffences were committed by foreign national offenders expressed as (a) one to five offences, (b) six to nine offences and (c) each total of reoffences at 10 and above.

Data on the number of adult foreign national reoffenders who have committed 1-5 reoffences, 6-9 reoffences and 10+ reoffences can be found in the attached table.We refer all foreign national offenders in receipt of custodial sentences to the Home Office. Those sentenced to 12 months, or more are automatically considered for deportation.Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. We are currently on track to remove more foreign national offenders this year than at any time in recent years and we are working across government to explore the ways we accelerate this work further.

How much is outstanding for court fines on foreign national offenders (a) in Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) nationally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

How much in outstanding court fines for foreign national offenders was written off (a) in Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) nationally in the most recent year for which figures are available.

The information requested is not held centrally.

What proportion of payments of court fines on foreign national offenders were made by benefit payment deductions (a) in Great Yarmouth constituency and (b) nationally in the most recent year for figures are available.

The information requested is not held centrally.

If she will make an estimate of the number of court cases that collapsed due to the lack of an available interpreter in (a) Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court and (b) England and Wales in the last 12 months.

The Ministry of Justice does not collate information regarding “collapsed trials” due to the lack of interpreter availability, but the Department does routinely publish data concerning ineffective trials including where the reason is “no interpreter available” as part of the Accredited Official Statistics series Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly. An ineffective trial is a trial that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date and a further listing is required.In response to the questions (a) and (b), we confirm the following, based on the above description:There were five ineffective trials where the reason was “no interpreter available” at Great Yarmouth magistrates’ courts in 2023.There were 556 ineffective trials where the reason was “no interpreter available” at all magistrates’ courts in England and Wales in 2023, this accounted for less than 1% of all listed trials in that period.

If she will make an estimate of the proportion of (a) Magistrate Court, (b) Crown Court and (c) County Court trials that have collapsed due to (i) delay and (ii) error by the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last five years.

We have interpreted this question as an estimate of the proportion of ineffective trials at the criminal courts that have not gone ahead on the day as planned in the last 5 years. We do not hold data that details delay or error by the Crown Prosecution Service. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is also not involved in County Court proceedings and therefore the answer to this question covers the criminal jurisdiction only.There are multiple reasons why a trial may not go ahead on the day, as planned. These include other cases over-running and there being insufficient court time, prosecution or defence witnesses being absent, the defendant not attending when required and either the prosecution or defence not being ready to proceed.The Ministry of Justice publishes data on trial effectiveness for a wide range of reasons, up to and including data to December 2023, in the Trial Effectiveness at the Criminal Courts tool. This can be downloaded from the latest Criminal Court Statistics publication here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2023.Our latest published data at the end of December 2023 shows that the ineffective trial rate at the Crown Court sat at 27%. Similarly, the ineffective trial rate at the Magistrates’ Court sat at 22%.Across all jurisdictions, we are working closely with partners across the justice system to improve readiness of cases for hearing at court and reduce delays. This includes the use of Case Coordinators to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. These principles link key initiatives to improve the way cases are processed through the system, covering areas such as robust case management, reduced but more effective hearings, and compliance with the rules and directions of the criminal court. The proof-of-concept is currently scheduled to conclude in August 2025, and the full evaluation at that point will test the business case for any further rollout.The Criminal Courts Improvement Group (CCIG), chaired by the Senior Presiding Judge, works to improve adherence to Better Case Management Principles. CCIG focuses on improving efficiency across the system and aims to improve case management practices.

What proportion of payments of court fines were made by benefit payment deductions in each of the last ten years.

There is no central data available on the proportion of court fine payments made through benefit deduction payments. Gathering this information would incur disproportionate cost.

What proportion of court cases have required a translator for each of the last 10 years.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

What the total amount of outstanding court fines are.

Financial penalties imposed by the courts will often consist of multiple elements including, amongst others, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecutor’s costs and a fine.The Government takes the recovery and enforcement of all financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to ensuring impositions are paid. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay and use a variety of sanctions to ensure the recovery of criminal fines and financial penalties. These sanctions can include deducting money from an individual offender’s earnings or benefits, if they are unemployed, or issuing warrants instructing approved enforcement agents to seize and sell goods belonging to the offender. If the offender does not pay as ordered and the money cannot be recovered by other means, then the court can take other actions which includes sending them to prison for non-payment of the financial penalty including a fine.The total amount of outstanding fines is published annually in note 4 of the HMCTS Trust Statement. (Trust Statement 2023-24).The amount outstanding at 31 March 2024 was £1,064,286,669.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) number and (b) total cost to the public purse of courses available to inmates at (i) HMP Maidstone, (ii) HMP Huntercombe and (iii) HMP Morton Hall for the last financial year.

In 2023-24, 23 education courses were provided at HMP Maidstone, 26 at HMP Huntercombe and 48 at HMP Morton Hall.Data on the cost of providing these courses at HMP Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall are in the process of validation. Information in relation to HMP Maidstone is not available, as the costs form part of a single budget item covering a number of prisons and cannot be disaggregated.Courses, such as the ones offered at these sites, are one of many valuable ways in which we can improve rehabilitation and cut reoffending which costs society more than £18 billion per year.

How many people smugglers have been sentenced in relation to irregular migration across the English Channel since 2018.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on offenders sentenced for irregular migration offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.However, data held centrally does not include information on whether offenders were people smugglers involved in irregular migration specifically across the English Channel. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

If she will make an estimate of the total amount written off in court fine accounts for each of the last 10 years.

Financial penalties imposed by the courts will often consist of multiple elements including, amongst others, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecutor’s costs and a fine.The Government takes the recovery and enforcement of all financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to ensuring impositions are paid. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay and use a variety of sanctions to ensure the recovery of criminal fines and financial penalties.In very limited scenarios, HMCTS may decide to administratively write-off the debt, the circumstances in which this can happen are severely restricted and occur only when there is no opportunity for the debt to be collected, for example, when a company has been dissolved with no distributable assets. The debt is written off for administrative purposes only, the imposition is still legally enforceable and if in the future it becomes apparent that assets are available to pay the debt then the account is written back. There also remain specific and limited situations where the Court can legally cancel any debt.The table below details the net value of the fine element of an imposition that has been administratively written off/ (written back - reinstated) for each financial year from 2014-15 to 2023-24. Judicial cancellations are not included as these are a direct instruction from the court to amend the value of the imposition.Financial yearNet fine impositions written off/ (written back) in each year £000 2014-1545,3452015-1629,7282016-17(17,728)2017-18(44,441)2018-19(8,332)2019-209,4582020-218,7972021-228,4802022-2312,1432023-249,400

How many individuals per nationality were convicted of child sex offences in each of the last ten years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants convicted for sexual offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023. However, it is not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. We are currently on track to remove more foreign national offenders this year than at any time in recent years and we are working across government to explore the ways we accelerate this work further.

How many and what proportion of convictions for child sex offences did not result in a custodial sentence in in each of the last ten years.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the sentencing outcomes for offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.Although child sex offences is not a defined category within the tool, you can filter offences using the HO Offence code to select the specific offences of interest.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12201 on Stalking: Convictions, whether her Department collects data on foreign national offenders found guilty of stalking involving fear of violence.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants convicted for stalking offences involving fear of violence in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023.However, this does not include an offenders’ nationality. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would only be possible at disproportionate cost.We refer all foreign national offenders in receipt of custodial sentences to the Home Office to be considered for deportation. Following the referral, checks will be completed on Home Office databases to confirm the person’s identity, immigration status and criminal history. These are essential in determining whether deportation can lawfully be pursued and whether further considerations are necessary.Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12200 on Reoffenders: Foreign Nationals, how many (a) non-violent and (b) violent foreign national reoffences there were in each of the last five years.

It is not possible to identify which reoffences committed by foreign nationals are ‘violent’ and ‘non-violent’ from the Ministry of Justice extract of the Police National Computer. This would require a manual search of court records and would therefore be of disproportionate cost.We refer all foreign national offenders in receipt of custodial sentences to the Home Office. Those sentenced to 12 months, or more are automatically considered for deportation.Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. We are currently on track to remove more foreign national offenders this year than at any time in recent years and we are working across government to explore the ways we accelerate this work further.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people in prison for offences related to the use of social media broken down by offence.

Information as to whether social media was used (at any point) in the commission of an offence is not centrally recorded – therefore the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

How many people have been sentenced for (a) murder, (b) rape and (c) other sex offences in each year for the previous ten years, broken down by primary language.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants sentenced for murder, rape, and other sex offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool. The latest publication (2023 data) is available from the Outcomes by Offence data tool published here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.However, it is not possible to identify an offender’s primary language from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12200 on Reoffenders: Foreign Nationals, if she will break down that data by crime category.

Data on the reoffending rate of foreign national offenders, broken down by the crime category of the index offence, can be found in the attached table.We refer all foreign national offenders in receipt of custodial sentences to the Home Office. Those sentenced to 12 months, or more are automatically considered for deportation.Foreign national offenders who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. We are currently on track to remove more foreign national offenders this year than at any time in recent years and we are working across government to explore the ways we accelerate this work further.