Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Welsh Ministers and officials of the Welsh Government concerning the implications of the Victims and Prisoners Bill for the devolution settlement.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has engaged closely with the Welsh Government at ministerial and official level throughout the drafting and passage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill to ensure the Bill reflects the current devolution settlement. The legislative consent motion process is engaged for clause 15 and Part 2 of the Bill.
A consultation ran on proposals for Part 1 of the Bill from December 2021 to February 2022. Following this consultation, Ministry of Justice officials engaged with Welsh Government officials on the proposals and sought their view on areas which relate to devolved matters. It was agreed between the Ministry of Justice and Welsh Government that clauses 12-14 would not apply to Wales due to existing commissioning arrangements for victim support services, however, clause 15 would apply to Wales.
The Bill was published in draft in May 2022 reflecting this position. A letter was sent from the First Minister of Wales to the then Secretary of State in December 2022 regarding the draft Bill stating that a legislative consent motion would be laid when the Bill was introduced confirming the Welsh Government were content with the devolution position in the Bill and no changes would be required. This letter also praised the engagement between the UK Government and Welsh Government on the Bill.
Following pre-legislative scrutiny, further measures (Parts 2 and 4) were added to the Bill. The Victims and Prisoners Bill was introduced to Parliament on 29 March 2023. Conversations took place with the Welsh Government, in particular on Part 2 of the Bill (creation of the Independent Public Advocate), to determine how Welsh Ministers would be included in the standing up of an advocate following a major incident in Wales.
Following introduction of the Bill, the Welsh Government informed Ministry of Justice officials that their position on devolution had changed and that they would lay a legislative consent memorandum stating that they would no longer consent to clause 15 applying to Wales in the form it was drafted, and that they considered that the clauses pertaining to the Victims’ Code engage the devolution process. This was laid in May 2023.
Letters have been exchanged between UK and Welsh Government Ministers and conversations have taken place between officials to seek to agree an updated position on devolution that satisfies both administrations. Following the changes made to Part 2 of the Bill during Commons Report Stage, conversations continue between officials on the application of these clauses to Wales.
A final position will be set out during Lords amending stages of the Bill.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of delays in granting probate on the wills of deceased persons in (1) England, and (2) Wales, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they are taking to clear the backlog of cases caused by such delays.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The administration of probate applications is dealt with as a national service, covering England and Wales.
Average waiting times for probate grants, from July 2019 to September 2021, are published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 25):
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly
Information for the period up to December 2021 will be published on 31 March.
More recent management information published by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly, provides waiting time information up to December 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-december-2021.
Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic, and as a result of HMCTS increasing resources to meet demand, the average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required is between five and seven weeks.
The improvement of the online probate system remains a priority for HMCTS, to ensure more applications can be issued first time and resources can be focused on reducing waiting times. HMCTS continues to collaborate with its users to enhance the service and the latest information on this can be found at: https://insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk/2022/02/28/working-together-to-avoid-delays-to-probate-applications/ .
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what information, advice and support they plan to offer to families in which a child is unable to manage the funds in their Child Trust Fund when they reach the age of 18.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
To obtain the legal authority to make decisions about a Child Trust Fund on behalf of a young person who lacks the mental capacity to do so for themselves, parents and guardians need to apply to the Court of Protection for an order of the court or register a Lasting Power of Attorney. This is set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to protect vulnerable people.
We are working with financial institutions to raise awareness of these processes. They have agreed to provide information on these processes shortly after the account holder’s 16th birthday and again, when the account nears maturity.
For parents and guardians that may need to apply to the Court of Protection, they can ask for court fees to be waived when seeking access to a Child Trust Fund. Guidance for applicants has been updated to reflect this.
Should court applicants encounter any difficulties whilst completing Court of Protection application forms, they can contact the Court of Protection to request assistance. Contact details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/court-of-protection
We are also setting up a working group to consider how the Court of Protection application process can be simplified to reduce the burden placed upon the parents and guardians of disabled children.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the number of families in which a child may be unable to manage funds from their Child Trust Fund when they reach the age of 18.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We do not have accurate figures to show how many young people who wish to access a Child Trust Fund at age 18 may lack the mental capacity to make financial decisions for themselves.
The MENCAP website states that approximately 2.5% of children in the UK are believed to have a learning disability and consequently we estimate that there may be between 1 and 2% of Child Trust Funds where the account holder may lack capacity to make financial decisions at age 18. This equates to between 63,000 and 126,000 accounts but is a very rough estimate.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether children of single parent families would fall within the provisions of article 10(1)(e)(iii) of the draft agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU in circumstances where the custody of a child has been disputed.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
It is the Government’s intention to implement this aspect of the Withdrawal Agreement in the UK by way of the EU Settlement Scheme, which will allow EU citizens living in the UK before we leave the EU to apply for status to remain once the UK has left. However, when determining the custody of a child in the UK whether or not the parent is a single parent is not a relevant factor. It will continue to be the case that the court with jurisdiction will decide on custody (with whom the child is to live and when) on the facts of the individual case.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
Her Majesty's Government during the last 12 months, how many prisoners sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection were (1) offered places on a training course which could lead to their release, (2) were released following completion of such training courses, and (3) refused to take up a place or dropped out of such courses; and how those figures compare with those for the preceding 12 month period.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost as central records are not kept for all aspects of the management of prisoners sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP).
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and the Parole Board will continue to work together to improve the progression of IPP prisoners. This group continue to achieve release in high numbers, with 576 first time IPP releases in 2016, the highest figure since the sentence was introduced.
HMPPS will continue to invest in interventions to assist prisoners to both reduce their risk and demonstrate such progression to the Parole Board. However, it is important to remember that it is not mandatory for IPPs to complete accredited offending behaviour programmes in order to achieve release. Completing an accredited offending behaviour programme is one way in which IPP prisoners may demonstrate that they have reduced their risk of harm and reoffending; other options may include work and employment, education and one to one work with psychologists or prison offender supervisors.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions are being made at HM Prison Berwyn to meet the reasonable requirements of Welsh-speaking prisoners.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
It is a requirement that all staff at HMP Berwyn must show an understanding of the importance of the Welsh language.
All prisoners at HMP Berwyn will have access to welsh speaking staff and all material will be bilingual. To help support this, we are currently arranging courses for our staff to ensure they have a good understanding of Wales and working in the Welsh context, which includes a section on language.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have undertaken into the number of legal practitioners who will still be able to provide criminal legal aid services in England and Wales in the light of the decision to abandon proposals to reduce significantly the number of duty solicitors in those countries.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
All organisations who bid for own client contracts in 2015 will have the opportunity to bid for criminal legal aid work when we invite applications for replacement contracts later in the year. As my colleague, Lord Faulks, told the House on 28 January, a process of natural consolidation is already taking place in the criminal legal aid market, following the reduction in crime and natural competition.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Government of Wales concerning the implications for the National Assembly for Wales of any changes to the Human Rights Act 1998.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government was elected with a mandate to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework.
The Government has committed to consult fully on its proposals.
We will consider the impact of a Bill of Rights on the devolution settlements as we develop our proposals and will fully engage with the devolved administrations.