Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the 2023 abortion statistics for England and Wales will be published concurrently with the 2022 statistics in April 2024.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to publish 2023 abortion statistics for England and Wales concurrently with the 2022 statistics in April 2024. Following publication of the 2022 statistics, we will move forward with plans to publish abortion statistics for 2023.
The publication of the abortion statistics for England and Wales for 2022 has been delayed due to several operational issues. These include issues associated with moving to a new data processing system and an increase in the number of paper abortion notification forms to process.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent abuse of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 by foreign national offenders using the provisions of the Act to delay proceedings against them or to stay their removal from the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear in its commitment to identifying, protecting, and supporting genuine victims of modern slavery whilst prosecuting criminals.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015, and subsequent legislation such as the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and Illegal Migration Act 2023, make it harder for people to game the modern slavery system. Measures in our modern slavery legislation strike the right balance and still enable us to protect genuine victims of trafficking.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced the Public Order Disqualification, which means that foreign national offenders can be removed from the protections of the NRM where they pose a threat to public order.
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 furthered these measures, toughening the measures introduced in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
Additionally, where a foreign national offender has entered the United Kingdom illegally, and therefore presents a threat to public order, they will be disqualified from access to a recovery period and modern slavery specific support, unless they qualify for limited exceptions.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the reporting of Hospital Episode Statistics on abortion complications treated at NHS hospitals, as published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities on 23 November, is made part of that Office's routine annual reporting of abortion statistics in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The recent release of statistics comparing data from the Department’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics was an ad hoc official statistics in development publication, formerly known as experimental statistics. There are currently no plans to issue a similar publication annually.
The Department is inviting views on abortion statistics for England and Wales via an online user engagement survey and via email at abortion.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to instruct the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to regularly and expeditiously report the Hospital Episode Statistics on abortion complications that are treated on an outpatient basis at NHS A&E departments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The recent release of statistics comparing data from the Department’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics was an ad hoc official statistics in development publication, formerly known as experimental statistics. There are currently no plans to issue a similar publication annually.
The Department is inviting views on abortion statistics for England and Wales via an online user engagement survey and via email at abortion.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in determining whether suicide and self-harm prevention will be included in their guidance on relationships, sex and health education as an explicit part of the curriculum, in particular to support young people to spot the signs of, and seek appropriate support for, cases of suicidal ideation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is currently reviewing the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance. In July 2023, as part of the review, the department held a workshop with teachers. The former Minister for Schools also chaired roundtable meetings with a panel of experts and with families to explore the inclusion of suicide prevention in the curriculum.
The department will publish an amended draft of the statutory guidance for consultation at the earliest opportunity. The department will consider responses carefully before publishing the final revised guidance in 2024.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for freedom of speech of (1) transparency orders, and (2) privacy injunctions, used in family courts, which may restrict named individuals from discussing the case with third parties including family and media outlets.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of enabling the media to access family court proceedings to increase transparency in the Family Justice system while at the same time ensuring the privacy of vulnerable children and families going through court are protected.
Transparency Orders and privacy injunctions are made by the independent judiciary, taking all relevant factors, including freedom of speech, into consideration.
Transparency Orders are used by the court to set the parameters on what may or may not be reported in a particular case without amounting to contempt of court. The template Transparency Order, drafted by the judiciary, is cast in injunctive terms. If a Transparency Order is made in a case, then it is binding on members of the media to whom it applies. The Media Reporting Pilots in the family courts are being independently evaluated before any decisions are made on whether there should be changes to provision on media access to, and disclosure of information from family proceedings.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Policy Exchange report The Wicked and the Redeemable: A Long-Term Plan to Fix a Criminal Justice System in Crisis, published on 4 November.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We are considering this report with interest.
We remain committed to reducing the outstanding crown court caseload and have introduced a raft of measures to allow courts to work at full capacity, including removing the cap on sitting days for the third year running and recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions.
We have already delivered 5,600 new prison places as part of our commitment to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places to ensure the right conditions are in place to rehabilitate prisoners, cut crime, and protect the public. We are also investing in a range of interventions to tackle the causes of reoffending, including delivering our temporary accommodation service for prison-leavers, offering more offenders work opportunities in prison, and expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living wings.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the use of transparency orders in family courts to prevent proceedings being open to media scrutiny, including (1) those made under the auspices of the Family Courts Transparency Pilots, and (2) those made in other general family court proceedings.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of enabling the media to access family court proceedings to increase transparency in the Family Justice system while at the same time ensuring the privacy of vulnerable children and families going through court are protected.
Transparency Orders and privacy injunctions are made by the independent judiciary, taking all relevant factors, including freedom of speech, into consideration.
Transparency Orders are used by the court to set the parameters on what may or may not be reported in a particular case without amounting to contempt of court. The template Transparency Order, drafted by the judiciary, is cast in injunctive terms. If a Transparency Order is made in a case, then it is binding on members of the media to whom it applies. The Media Reporting Pilots in the family courts are being independently evaluated before any decisions are made on whether there should be changes to provision on media access to, and disclosure of information from family proceedings.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to review the evidence arising from the Family Courts transparency pilots at (1) Leeds, (2) Cardiff, and (3) Carlisle.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government supports the President of the Family Division’s ambition to increase transparency in the family courts. The Media Reporting Pilots, led by the President, are running from January 2023 to January 2024 and will be independently evaluated. The Government will carefully consider the findings of the evaluation once complete, and publish an assessment as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to present to Parliament their response to the Family Courts transparency pilots.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government supports the President of the Family Division’s ambition to increase transparency in the family courts. The Media Reporting Pilots, led by the President, are running from January 2023 to January 2024 and will be independently evaluated. The Government will carefully consider the findings of the evaluation once complete, and publish an assessment as appropriate.