Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of pregnant women held in prison between 2023 and 2024 were on remand.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The HMPPS Annual Digest 2023/2024 reports a total number of 229 self-declared pregnant prisoners recorded between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.
Custody type data were available for 91% of these prisoners, 71 (34%) of which were found to be on remand when their pregnancy was declared to HMPPS.[1][2]
There are now dedicated Pregnancy and Mother and Baby Liaison Officers in all women’s prisons as well as mandated multidisciplinary care planning for pregnant women.
The Lord Chancellor announced the creation of a Women’s Justice Board to address the distinct needs of women in the criminal justice system. The Board will have the goal of fewer women in prison and more supported in the community. It will initially focus on early intervention; community solutions including residential alternatives to custody; and improving outcomes for young adult women, and pregnant women and mothers of young children.
Whilst there will always be some, including those who are pregnant, who need to be in custody, we must ensure they are given the best chance possible to tackle the drivers of their offending and to contribute meaningfully to society.
Notes:
[1] Due to different data collection methods we have considered a matching record to be the closest remand record within 7 days of the first pregnancy declaration date.
[2] The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of changes in the level of complaints made to the Bar Standards Board by criminal law barristers over the last three years.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Ministry of Justice has not carried out an assessment on any factors affecting the level of complaints made to the Bar Standards Board about barristers. The regulators of the legal profession in England and Wales, including the Bar Standards Board, are independent of Government.
There are two routes for complaints about barristers in England and Wales - the Legal Ombudsman and the Bar Standard Board. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about the service provided to the complainant by an authorised person, while the Bar Standards Board deals with complaints where a barrister is alleged to be in breach of the Bar Standards Board’s codes of conduct. The Bar Standards Board publishes data on its complaints in its Regulatory Decision-making Annual Report.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the rationale for changes made to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State’s Directions for Advisory Committees on Justices of the Peace between January 2022 and March 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer
Since January 2022, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State’s Directions for Advisory Committees on Justices of the Peace have been updated to reflect changes associated with the roll-out of a new recruitment process for magistrates, launched in January 2022.
In March 2022, they were also updated to reflect the increase to 75 of the statutory retirement age for judicial office holders, including magistrates. Other minor updates to the Directions have been made to ensure the eligibility criteria for the magistracy are clear.
As of May 2023, the Directions at https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/advisory-committees-justices-peace/ are up to date with all changes.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the first-tier tribunal have been made for remedial contributions orders since the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022; and how many remedial contributions orders were granted in the same period.
Answered by Mike Freer
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) received 9 applications for Remedial Contribution Orders in the period from the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 to 31 December 2022, the most recent period for which data is available. Of these applications, 1 was granted during the same time period and the other 8 applications are awaiting a decision.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce backlogs in the family courts; and whether he has assessed the potential impact of reinstating legal aid contracts and restoring early legal advice for family law cases on reducing the backlogs.
Answered by Mike Freer
Reducing the backlog in the family courts is a priority for this Department. Alongside the successful Mediation Voucher Scheme which, as of 5 February 2023, has allowed over 14,500 separating couples to access mediation away from the family courts, we intend to publish a consultation shortly seeking views on proposals to support families to reach agreements earlier.
We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels across all jurisdictions in this financial year and beyond.
Legal aid contracts remain in place for family matters that are within scope of legal aid, as set out by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to stop perpetrators of domestic abuse misusing the court system to maintain control over former or current partners.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Protecting victims of domestic abuse remains a priority for this Government. A range of protective orders can already be made in the family court, including non-molestation and occupation orders.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 strengthened the law on section 91(14) orders (‘barring orders’) making it clearer that these orders are available to the family court to protect parents and children where further proceedings would risk causing them harm, particularly where further proceedings could be a form of continuing domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 also prohibits alleged perpetrators of abuse from directly cross-examining their victims in person in family and civil courts in England and Wales. The Act further provides that victims of domestic abuse will be automatically eligible for special measures in all courts.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Defamation Act 2013 on victims of domestic abuse and coercive control.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
A Post-Legislative Memorandum reviewing the impact of the Defamation Act 2013 was published in October 2019. The broad conclusion is that the Act ensures the right balance in law is achieved; that free speech is not unjustifiably impeded by actual or threatened libel proceedings, while ensuring that people who have been libelled are able to protect their reputation.
The fear of being threatened with libel should never stop anyone from reporting abuse.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to extend the scheme supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary basic accommodation to all 12 National Probation Service regions.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Our Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out our vision that no-one subject to probation supervision is released from prison homeless. By 2024-5, we will invest £200m per year to transform our approach to rehabilitation. This includes expanding our Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 transitional accommodation service across England and Wales. The service will support those under supervision from probation who are released from prison at risk of homelessness with up to 12-weeks accommodation.
We have issued the Community Accommodation Service-Tier 3 prior information notice which is available at: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000136-2022.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will conduct a review of the use of expert psychological witnesses in the family courts for the purposes of ensuring credibility, standards and consistency among experts particularly where allegations of domestic abuse have been made.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government does not have any plans to conduct a review on the use of expert psychological witnesses in the family courts. Part 25 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 stipulates the requirements and standards determined of all expert witnesses when they and their evidence are put before the family court. This legislation also emphasises the independence of experts and the key role of judicial discretion throughout this process.
Section 13 of the Children and Families Act 2014 makes detailed provision in relation to the control of expert evidence, and of expert assessments, in children proceedings, and is underpinned by detailed provision for practice and procedure set out in the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and supporting Practice Directions developed by the Family Procedure Rules Committee (FPRC).
The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, established a working group to identify the scale of the problem of medical expert witness shortages in the family courts. A report was published in October 2020 which looked at the causes and possible solutions.
In October 2021 the President of the Family Division published a memorandum which seeks to explain the principles applied by the Family Court when it considers whether to authorise or admit expert evidence. This memorandum includes the reminder that experts should only be instructed when to do so is ‘necessary’ to assist the court in resolving issues justly.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to record centrally the number of cases in child contact arrangements where (a) allegations of parental alienation have been reported, (b) allegations of both parental alienation and domestic abuse have been reported, (c) who has made the allegations against whom, and (d) the outcome of such cases around child contact arrangements.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Incidences of alleged parental alienation by either parent in relation to family proceedings about child arrangements are not recorded centrally.
A new monitoring and reporting mechanism is being piloted by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and the Victim’s Commissioner. This mechanism aims to improve understanding of how private law children cases involving domestic abuse are treated.
In addition, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) reports any concerns about alienating behaviours to the court, focusing on the impact on the child’s safety and welfare and in the context of wider family dynamics.