Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in each of the last 10 years, how many drivers have successfully claimed 'exceptional hardship' when they have reached 12 penalty points and have therefore carried on driving.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
HMCTS records case management information about circumstances where there are grounds for mitigating the normal consequences of a driving conviction, but does not categorise specific data under ‘exceptional hardship’. In the Crown and magistrates’ courts there were 83,581 cases with no disqualification due to mitigating circumstances for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020.
Examples of exceptional hardship are loss of employment; impact of employment on others; impact on the health and safety of others; caring for elderly or disabled relatives; mortgage default or other financial loss.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all wills requiring probate are required to be made available for public inspection; if not, what plans they have to make this a requirement for all wills, including those of members of the Royal Family; and, further to the Wills Act 1837, whether the last will and testament of HRH The Prince Philip will be made available for public inspection.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Where an application is made to the Probate Service (part of the Family Division of the High Court) for a grant of probate in respect of a will, the general rule is that the will is attached to the grant of probate and made public. However, under Section 124 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, this is “subject to the control of the High Court and the probate rules”. Rule 58 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 makes provision for the Court to determine that a will shall not be open to inspection if “such inspection would be undesirable or otherwise inappropriate”.
The Government has no current plans to change these rules. It is for the Court to determine, on an application by the personal representatives of the testator, whether any will should be closed to public inspection.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to bring into force section 137 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government is working to put the necessary computer changes and other processes in place to allow for the commencement of section 137 of the Coroner and Justice Act 2009, which requires a court to extend a driving ban to take account of the period an offender spends in custody.