Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 on libel cases of the decision of the High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland on Case 2024NIMaster1, delivered on 8 January 2024.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has implemented reforms relating to strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs) in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, relating to matters engaging economic crime.
We are committed to introducing targeted legislation to cover other forms of SLAPP litigation, to stop anyone from abusing our legal system and using improper means to intimidate those acting in the public interest.
Reforms provide a statutory definition of SLAPPs, an early dismissal mechanism, and costs protection for SLAPPs cases. Our intention is that journalists subject to SLAPPs in future will benefit from costs protection (determined by the court), which will lessen legal and financial risks associated with lengthy proceedings.
These reforms apply in England and Wales - justice is devolved in Northern Ireland, and any reforms relating to Northern Irish defamation law would be a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive, which is currently undertaking a review of defamation law in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the independent maternity review chaired by Donna Ockenden, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the jurisdiction of Coroners in England and Wales to give them permission to hold full inquests into stillbirths.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is committed to reviewing each of the recommendations in the Ockenden Report and will respond appropriately in due course.
The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care have jointly consulted on proposals to provide coroners with new powers to investigate stillbirths. The consultation can be found at Consultation on Coronial Investigations of Stillbirths (justice.gov.uk). The Government’s response to the consultation has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working to publish it as soon as possible.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative information his Department holds on the number of cases going through the Crown Court in the (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2011-12 financial years. .
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest published criminal court statistics can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics.
Data relating to Q4 2020 will be published on 24 March 2021, and data covering Q1 2021 will be published on 24 June 2021.The table below provides data from the latest 12 month period and the corresponding 12 month period 2011 and the total number of cases for the 2011/2012 financial year.
Period | All Cases | ||
Receipts | Disposals | Outstanding | |
January 2011 to December 2011 inclusive | 148,663 | 150,156 | 45,030 |
2011-12 financial year | 145,626 | 148,094 | 42,123 |
January 2020 to December 2020 inclusive | 100,340 | 83,069 | 55,189 |
February 2020 to January 2021 inclusive | 99,390 | 81,731 | 56,544 |
The above are estimates of receipts1, disposals2 and outstanding3 cases in the Crown Court in England and Wales, January 2011 to December 2011 (inclusive), 2011-12 financial year, January 2020 to December 2020 (inclusive) and February 2020 to January 2021(inclusive, latest available).
Notes:
1) Receipts include cases sent direct from magistrates' courts and cases transferred in.
2) Disposals include cases where a disposal is recorded against each defendant and all their offences; and cases that are transferred out.
3) The outstanding case estimate is a cumulative count of ongoing cases within the Crown Court which have not reached disposal. It is not the number of receipts minus disposals due to exclusions made to the data. The outstanding estimates exclude cases which have a bench warrant issued – e.g. where a defendant cannot be bought before the court and the police have been directed to arrest them in order to bring them before the court as required. Once the bench warrant is executed and the individual is brought back before the court, the case will then form part of the outstanding case counts again.
4) Estimates for Q3 2020 exclude a small number of cases which have transitioned to the Common Platform system in the early adopter site (Derby Crown Court) from September 2020.