Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times children have been restrained in secure training centres and young offender institutions, by establishment, in each month since March 2015.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Information for 2015/16 is not yet available and will be published in the Youth Justice Statistics report in January 2017.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reasons are for the proposal to reduce the number of benefit appeal cases in which (a) an appellant can appear in person and (b) the panel includes a member with direct experience of the relevant benefit; and what cost savings are expected to arise from that change.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The Government is investing close to £1 billion to reform and digitise our courts and tribunals to deliver swifter and more certain justice.
Technology will be at the forefront of our reforms but specific support will be provided to ensure tribunals remain accessible to all and physical hearings will continue to be used to resolve many cases.
The impact assessment published alongside the Transforming our Justice System consultation paper sets out our estimate of potential savings from tribunal panel composition reform based on possible future scenarios.
The panel composition reforms will ensure that the most appropriate panel is always selected to hear a case. As now, relevant expertise will always be available where needed, regardless of how a case is resolved. The Senior President of Tribunals will continue to determine when panel members are used.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of employment tribunal fees on the gender pay gap.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The review is assessing how successful the reforms had been in meeting their original objectives including, as far as we can, the impact of fees in relation to characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010.
We are planning to announce the conclusions of the review in due course.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunal claimants withdrew their case due to the requirement to pay fees (a) since 2013, (b) between April 2014 and March 2015 and (c) between April 2015 and March 2016.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not record the reasons why claimants withdraw their employment tribunal case.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
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 the findings of the Law Society's online survey of individuals' handling of legal issues in England and Wales 2015, published in May 2016.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government. We want to see an innovative and competitive market that provides people with affordable legal services that they want and need, with regulation that supports the public and consumer interest.
We welcome the Law Society’s survey and will take account of the findings as part of the development of legal services policy.
The legal services regulators have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, including improving access to justice and increasing public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the “Legal Choices” website, which provides people with information to help them in deciding whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services they might choose from. The Advicenow website, established by Law for Life, provides information on rights and the law.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve awareness of available legal advice for the general public.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government. We want to see an innovative and competitive market that provides people with affordable legal services that they want and need, with regulation that supports the public and consumer interest.
We welcome the Law Society’s survey and will take account of the findings as part of the development of legal services policy.
The legal services regulators have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, including improving access to justice and increasing public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the “Legal Choices” website, which provides people with information to help them in deciding whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services they might choose from. The Advicenow website, established by Law for Life, provides information on rights and the law.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve legal education in England and Wales.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government. We want to see an innovative and competitive market that provides people with affordable legal services that they want and need, with regulation that supports the public and consumer interest.
We welcome the Law Society’s survey and will take account of the findings as part of the development of legal services policy.
The legal services regulators have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, including improving access to justice and increasing public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the “Legal Choices” website, which provides people with information to help them in deciding whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services they might choose from. The Advicenow website, established by Law for Life, provides information on rights and the law.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has for training the judiciary on the implementation of problem-solving courts.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Working Group has now submitted its findings, which support the case for problem-solving courts.
Training of the judiciary is a matter for the judiciary and the judicial college. We will be working with both, taking learning from approaches nationally and internationally, as we progress our work on problem-solving courts.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many courts will be involved in the problem-solving courts pilot programme; and how much funding has been allocated to those pilots.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Working Group has now submitted its findings, which support the case for problem-solving courts.
Training of the judiciary is a matter for the judiciary and the judicial college. We will be working with both, taking learning from approaches nationally and internationally, as we progress our work on problem-solving courts.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects the Problem-Solving Courts Working Group to (a) conclude and (b) report back on its work.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Working Group has now submitted its findings, which support the case for problem-solving courts.
Training of the judiciary is a matter for the judiciary and the judicial college. We will be working with both, taking learning from approaches nationally and internationally, as we progress our work on problem-solving courts.