Oral Answers to Questions

Angela Crawley Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I entirely agree that it is important for us to help people to find work. I support the Ban the Box initiative, and we are exploring options for its promotion. Later this year we will publish our employment strategy. We want to encourage more employers like Halfords, Greggs and DHL, which already work with ex-offenders, to become involved. Once they have jobs, ex-offenders often prove to be loyal and effective employees.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

14. What recent progress she has made on the Government’s plans to replace the Human Rights Act 1998.

[The Minister for Courts and Justice (Sir Oliver Heald)]

We are committed to reforming our domestic human rights framework, and we will return to our proposals once we know the arrangements for our exit from the European Union.

[Angela Crawley]

In September, the Secretary of State said that she was expecting to meet the Scottish Justice Minister to discuss the repeal of the Human Rights Act in Scotland. How does she plan to guarantee that the proposed British Bill of Rights will not compromise the autonomy of the Scottish legal system?

[Sir Oliver Heald]

The Secretary of State has offered some dates, and I hope it will be possible for the meeting to take place. There will be some time for that now, because, as I have said, we will return to our proposals once we know the arrangements for exit from the EU.