Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any payments have been made from the Exchequer to the Press Recognition Panel during the calendar year 2024; whether any future payments are scheduled; and if so, whether they will publish any success criteria attached to them.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides funding for the Press Recognition Panel (PRP) annually. MoJ made a payment to the PRP of £430k for the 2024/25 financial year in April 2024. Whilst the Lord Chancellor is the conduit for the PRP with HM Treasury, they have no responsibility under the Royal Charter that created the PRP, for setting the PRP’s success criteria. Instead, the Royal Charter sets out that the PRP Board must have regard to the need to ensure the PRP achieves value for money. The PRP report against this criteria, and other deliverables, in its annual report and accounts which are publicly available.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessments they have made of the value for money of taxpayer funding made in 2022 and 2023 to the Press Recognition Panel; whether they will publish any such assessments; and if none were made, why not.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Value for money lies at the heart of all Government decisions, and the Royal Charter sets out that the Press Recognition Panel (PRP) Board must have regard to the need to ensure it achieves value for money. The PRP has an objective of ‘Ensuring our systems and processes are effective and provide value for money’ and reports on this annually in its annual report and accounts, which are published on its website.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 10 November (HL11), how many prosecutions there have been in each year since the implementation of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 of individuals causing animals unnecessary suffering as a result of the misuse of fireworks; and how many of those resulted in a custodial sentence.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcome by Offence data tool including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification. This can be found via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The total number of individuals prosecuted and sentence outcomes for causing, permitting, or failing to prevent unnecessary suffering of animals, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, can be obtained by selecting HO code 09701 and 10829.
However, whether this was specifically due to the misuse of fireworks is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the (1) operation, and (2) effectiveness, of section 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998 relating to freedom of expression.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
On 14 December the Government published a consultation on its proposals to revise and replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a Bill of Rights.
This includes proposals to strengthen the right to freedom of expression, reflecting the UK’s history, traditions and values.
Responses and views are sought on how Section 12 of the Human Rights Act could be amended. The Government is consulting on how we can ensure that the right to freedom of expression of the press and other publishers is properly balanced with other rights when the court is assessing applications for injunctions against publication by making clear that the right to freedom of expression is of the utmost importance and that the courts should only grant relief impinging on it where there are exceptional reasons; The Government is also looking at what further steps could be taken to provide greater protection for journalists’ sources.
The consultation process will close on 8 March 2022. We will assess the responses and evidence provided to inform detailed development of future policy and legislation.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all protected characteristics from hate crime are treated equally under sentencing laws.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Law Commission have been invited to review the law relating to hate crime and to make recommendations to the Government for its reform. The review began in March 2019.
Specifically, the Law Commission have been asked to consider the current range of offences and aggravating factors in sentencing, and to make recommendations on the most appropriate models to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection from conduct motivated by hatred towards protected groups or characteristics. The review will also take account of the existing range of protected characteristics, identifying any gaps in the scope of protection currently offered under the law and making recommendations to promote a consistent approach.
The Law Commission plan to issue a consultation on this matter in early 2020. Further information on the review can be found on the Law Commission webpage at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/hate-crime/
Under the current law, the courts already have a duty to treat evidence of hostility based on someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity as an aggravating factor when considering the seriousness of an offence. Where an offence is proven, this would merit an increase in penalty within the maximum available for that offence.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reform the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to define hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as aggravated offences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Law Commission have been invited to review the law relating to hate crime and to make recommendations to the Government for its reform. The review began in March 2019.
Specifically, the Law Commission have been asked to consider the current range of offences and aggravating factors in sentencing, and to make recommendations on the most appropriate models to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection from conduct motivated by hatred towards protected groups or characteristics. The review will also take account of the existing range of protected characteristics, identifying any gaps in the scope of protection currently offered under the law and making recommendations to promote a consistent approach.
The Law Commission plan to issue a consultation on this matter in early 2020. Further information on the review can be found on the Law Commission webpage at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/hate-crime/
Under the current law, the courts already have a duty to treat evidence of hostility based on someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity as an aggravating factor when considering the seriousness of an offence. Where an offence is proven, this would merit an increase in penalty within the maximum available for that offence.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to classify hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as aggravated offences.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Law Commission have been invited to review the law relating to hate crime and to make recommendations to the Government for its reform. The review began in March 2019.
Specifically, the Law Commission have been asked to consider the current range of offences and aggravating factors in sentencing, and to make recommendations on the most appropriate models to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection from conduct motivated by hatred towards protected groups or characteristics. The review will also take account of the existing range of protected characteristics, identifying any gaps in the scope of protection currently offered under the law and making recommendations to promote a consistent approach.
The Law Commission plan to issue a consultation on this matter in early 2020. Further information on the review can be found on the Law Commission webpage at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/hate-crime/
Under the current law, the courts already have a duty to treat evidence of hostility based on someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity as an aggravating factor when considering the seriousness of an offence. Where an offence is proven, this would merit an increase in penalty within the maximum available for that offence.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding they are making available to organisations marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta; and how those funds will be used.
Answered by Lord Faulks
In March this year the Chancellor of the Exchequer provided a direct grant of £1 million to the Magna Carta Trust to support the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. Applications for funding were invited by the Trust and a list of projects that were successful is available at: http://magnacarta800th.com/projects/.
In addition to the direct grant of £1 million, Magna Carta projects have benefited from awards totalling £21.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Successful projects range from £502,900 awarded to Salisbury Cathedral’s ‘Engaging with Magna Carta’ programme to £7,400 for the Walkern History Society’s self guided history trail.
The Ministry of Justice has also provided four members of staff to support the development of the Global Law Summit, to be held in February next year, a world-class legal conference which will address the continuing relevance of Magna Carta to modern-world legal and business issues.