Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to engage with EU countries, particularly Denmark, to seek a (1) speedy, and (2) satisfactory, resolution regarding membership to the Lugano Convention.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government continues to engage with EU member states, including Denmark, about the UK’s application to join the Lugano Convention when opportunities arise. We maintain that the UK meets the criteria for accession both because Lugano is open to countries outside the EU and all non-EU members have already supported the UK's membership. However, the Government understands that the EU is unlikely to return to considering our application for some months. The UK remains a leader in Private International Law. We are committed to ensuring cross-border legal disputes can be resolved smoothly, in the interests of families, consumers and businesses in the UK, across Europe and beyond.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they have delayed seeking membership to join the Lugano Convention.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The UK applied to join the Lugano Convention in April 2020. This provided ample time for the contracting parties to consider the application so that it could have been brought into force by the end of the Transition Period. Switzerland, Norway and Iceland gave their consent within that timescale. However, the European Union declined to begin to consider the UK’s application until after the end of the Transition Period and has to date not provided a definitive response to our application. The Government maintains that the UK meets the criteria for accession.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will ensure women prison leavers supported by the Ministry of Justice’s temporary accommodation service are supported into permanent accommodation.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation. Individuals released from prison will be provided up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation and will be supported into long-term settled accommodation before the end of that 12-week period. Initially launching in five national probation regions, the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year and will be commencing this Summer. It will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to scaling up and rolling out nationally.
The service will take account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs and accommodation provision will be dedicated to single gender usage as required. Community Probation Practitioners, working together with local partners, will be responsible for ensuring that vulnerable female prison leavers receive appropriate support and are provided with housing beyond the 12 weeks emergency accommodation.
HMPPS will work in conjunction with MHCLG’s announced funding to support both male and female prison leavers at risk of homelessness into private rental tenancies. Funded schemes to support women will be developed to recognise their specific needs and will be part of plans to secure settled accommodation by the end of the 12 weeks temporary accommodation provided by HMPPS.
In 2020, Hestia Battersea was changed from a male to female Approved Premises to give better geographic spread of AP provision for women, becoming the first AP for women in London since 2008.
In addition, Eden House, the first new AP in over thirty years, will open in this month supporting female offenders.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Lord Chancellor’s guidance on civil legal aid (1) to recognise the importance of challenging discrimination, (2) to advise that a discrimination claim that seeks other remedies in addition to damages should not be assumed to be primarily a claim for damages, (3) to amend the rules on the application of the cost-benefit test to reflect the non-financial value of discrimination claims, and (4) to provide that cost-benefit assessments should start from the assumption that discrimination claims are not primarily claims for damages and are likely to be in the wider public interest.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government recognises the importance of challenging discrimination and have taken steps to enhance the ability to do this. On 21 April 2020, we laid a Statutory Instrument to fulfil our commitment to remove the mandatory element of the CLA Gateway for those seeking legal aid in discrimination, debt and special educational needs matters, reinstating immediate access to face-to-face advice in these cases. This came into force on 15 May 2020.
Publicly funded advice and assistance continues to be available for Employment Tribunal discrimination claims and legally aided representation may be available under the Exceptional Case Funding scheme if there is a breach, or risk of a breach, of the applicant’s ECHR rights or enforceable EU rights if legal aid is not provided. The MoJ is currently reviewing the ECF application process, together with other aspects of the ECF guidance and forms as part of considering whether the application process can be improved and will give further consideration to the operation of the cost benefit test.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that legal aid is made available in cases where discrimination is alleged on the grounds of a landlord or letting agency not accepting a tenant on housing or other benefit; and what mechanisms are available to be used by those who have experienced such discrimination to protect their rights.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The scope of legal aid is set out under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. In discrimination cases, legal aid is in scope where there is a breach of the Equality Act 2010, subject to means and merits tests. Legal aid is also available for individuals at risk of homelessness.
For matters which do not qualify for legal aid, there are a range of options available to support individuals through the legal process.
The Government recognises the key role that charities in the advice sector play to help people with their legal problems and that is why we have recently delivered additional investment of over £5m for not for profit organisations who provide specialist legal advice, such as Law Centres, and a number of other charities. In addition, in partnership with the Access to Justice Foundation, we have launched our £3.1m grant to fund services to help litigants in person dealing with a civil or family law matter. The new grant is designed to fund services provided at local, regional and national levels with the aim of understanding more about how those services can combine to help people. This new grant is in addition to the more than £9m that the MoJ has invested in support for litigants in person, since 2015, through our Litigants in Person Support Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to suspend the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The UK is committed to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to amend the Human Rights Act 1998; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
As set out in the Government’s manifesto, we need to look at the broader aspects of our constitution including the balance between the rights of individuals and effective government, this includes updating the Human Rights Act. Further details will be announced in due course. This does not change the fact that the UK is committed to human rights, and will continue to champion human rights at home and abroad.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the QC appointments competition to assess whether from 2021 it should no longer be externalised.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has no current plans to review the QC appointments competition and make this a Government function. The fees for both QC applications and QC appointments are set by Queens’ Counsel Appointments Ltd, and are therefore a matter for QCA.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review whether fees should be paid for QC applications; and if so, how much they should be.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has no current plans to review the QC appointments competition and make this a Government function. The fees for both QC applications and QC appointments are set by Queens’ Counsel Appointments Ltd, and are therefore a matter for QCA.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review whether fees should be paid for QC appointments; and if so, how much they should be.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has no current plans to review the QC appointments competition and make this a Government function. The fees for both QC applications and QC appointments are set by Queens’ Counsel Appointments Ltd, and are therefore a matter for QCA.