Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve timescales for cases in the Court of Protection.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS is working to increase overall system capacity to reduce processing times. Measures taken include a targeted action plan to allocate additional administrative resources in response to higher demand, as well as training and upskilling new staff. Additional judicial sitting days have been added to support performance improvement. HMCTS is also working on improvements to the new case management system, to help reduce overall end-to-end processing times.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what performance metrics exist for the Civil National Business Centre; and whether those metrics are being met.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service publishes weekly performance metrics for the Civil National Business Centre. The target is 5 working days and 11 out of 15 workstreams are currently in target.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for Tribunal cases to be heard for (a) Social Security and Child Support, (b) Immigration and Asylum and (c) SEN appeals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber, the Immigration and Asylum Chamber and the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.
HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology as appropriate. If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will make a decision on that issue, taking all the circumstances into account.
The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and immigration legal aid fees in January 2025.
This Government wants a justice system that is effective, efficient, and sustainable, and this funding boost is an important step towards that.
Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps his Department has taken to tackle covid-19 on the prison estate.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
We have restricted regimes, minimised transfers between prisons and boosted staffing at the frontline and supported prisoners to maintain family ties.
Prisons are also implementing a ‘compartmentalisation’ strategy to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable and quarantine new arrivals.
Latest public health advice suggests that the measures we have been taking to tackle covid-19 have helped to limit the spread of the virus in prisons.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress the Government is making on bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that local authorities can extend legal notices on marriages postponed as a result of the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The Government acknowledges the significant upheaval that Covid-19 is causing for couples who were looking to marry at this time. The requirement to solemnize a marriage within twelve months of giving notice to marry is set out in primary legislation and would require primary legislation to amend.
We are exploring what changes might be possible in relation to marriages at this time, and in line with Public Health England guidance on social distancing.