Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long HMP Dartmoor has been empty of prisoners; what the estimated cost is of rectifying the buildings to make them safe and habitable; who the freeholder of the prison site is; and what obligations the freeholder has to fund the rectifying works.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMP Dartmoor has been temporarily closed since August 2024 following the detection of radon gas. We have been working with specialist radon experts to investigate and assess options to allow us to reopen the prison safely.
The decision on reopening will be made based on the viability of the site, the effectiveness of works to reduce levels of radon, and value for money. We need to be satisfied that reopening the prison is justified in the light of a range of considerations, including compliance with legislative requirements, operational viability, and the cost of mitigation measures. To date, approximately £1.2 million has been spent on radon mitigation.
The freehold of the site on which HMP Dartmoor is built is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The Ministry of Justice has a full repairing and insuring lease. Any costs to maintain the buildings and make them safe and habitable therefore fall to the Department for the duration of its lease.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede on 18 November 2024 (HL2243), whether they have carried out a risk assessment relating to e-bikes on His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service premises; and if so, what were the dates of the surveys for that risk assessment, and whether they will place a copy of those surveys in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Risk-assessment surveys have been conducted at sites where there has been a request to store an e-bike. To date, ten sites have been surveyed, with Brighton Family Court deemed suitable to store e-bikes.
The list of sites surveyed are as follows:
The surveys contain sensitive site-related security information which we do not routinely publish and, as a result, copies will not be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money is raised annually from the victim surcharge.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The surcharge (often referred to as the victim surcharge) was first introduced in April 2007 and changes were introduced on 1 October 2012, 1 September 2014, 8 April 2016, 28 June 2019, 14 April 2020 and then again on 16 June 2022.
When a court passes a sentence, it must also order that the relevant surcharge is paid. The amount of the surcharge depends on the sentence and whether at the time the offence was committed the offender was an adult or a youth (under 18 years of age), or if the offender is an organisation.
Revenue raised from the surcharge provides a contribution towards Ministry of Justice-funded victim and witness support services.
HMCTS accounts for the amount of victim surcharge imposed and collected in the annual HMCTS Trust Statement. The Trust Statement was introduced in 2010-11 prior to that the data was not collated centrally. The table below illustrates the amounts imposed and collected each year since April 2010. The amounts collected will include receipts for amounts imposed in prior years.
Financial Year | Victim Surcharge Imposed £000 | Victim Surcharge collected £000 |
2010-11 | 12,552 | 10,516 |
2011-12 | 11,234 | 10,165 |
2012-13 | 14,331 | 10,518 |
2013-14 | 30,970 | 19,548 |
2014-15 | 35,203 | 24,569 |
2015-16 | 37,866 | 28,307 |
2016-17 | 44,785 | 31,029 |
2017-18 | 46,603 | 35,022 |
2018-19 | 45,521 | 33,529 |
2019-20 | 44,424 | 39,689 |
2020-21 | 36,647 | 35,039 |
2021-22 | 46,654 | 37,852 |
2022-23 | 65,270 | 41,314 |
2023-24 | 104,032 | 65,496 |
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the annual revenue raised from the victim surcharge is given to organisations that support road crash victims and their families.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Victim Surcharge is not a standalone funding stream and instead provides a contribution to the overall Ministry of Justice Victim and Witness budget, which is used to commission practical, emotional and therapeutic support for victims of all crime at a national and local level. Therefore, we are unable to say how much is given specifically to organisations which support victims of road traffic incidents.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much of the total annual victim surcharge is raised from traffic offences.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in requiring offenders to attend their sentencing.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to legislating to enhance court powers to require offenders to attend their sentencing hearings. This measure will be included in the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill which the Government intends to introduce in the first parliamentary session.
Further details will be made available as part of the Bill’s introduction into Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the risk assessment by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service which led to their decision to ban electric bikes from their premises.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
A preventative and risk-based decision to not allow the internal storage of e-bikes and their batteries on HMCTS premises was made in early 2024 pending further assessment of the risks and mitigations available.
This decision took into consideration emerging national fire service data and a serious fire incident that had occurred in the Royal Courts of Justice related to an e-bike battery.
A survey is being undertaken to establish where e-bikes may be safely stored within interior areas of HMCTS buildings. If a site has the physical capacity to store the e-bikes internally, building fire risk assessments are being reviewed to consider whether e-bikes can be safely stored.
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 - Shadow Attorney General
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 - Shadow Attorney General
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.