Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has held recent discussions with the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office on guidance for judges on handling cases involving rape and sexual assault.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) is the independent statutory body which supports the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice in their joint responsibility for judicial discipline. JCIO’s statutory remit is to deal with complaints of misconduct made against judicial office holders made by individuals. The JCIO is not responsible for judicial training.
To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lady Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner have statutory responsibility for judicial training, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. The Lady Chief Justice is responsible for issuing guidance to the judiciary in England and Wales, and for the provision of its training, which is delivered by the Judicial College. All judges who hear criminal cases involving allegations of rape and serious sexual offences are required to attend specialist training provided by the Judicial College. The Judicial College also provides guidance in relation to cases involving allegations of rape and sexual assault in the Crown Court Compendium and Equal Treatment Bench Book, which are available at the following links:
Crown Court Compendium - June 2023 - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
Equal Treatment Bench Book - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2021 to Question 20609, on Marriage: Humanism, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting legal recognition to humanist marriages on the same time-limited basis as outdoor civil marriages.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
As the Government has made clear, a Law Commission project on marriage and civil partnership is due to report later this year and is expected to present recommendations for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully.
Options being explored by the Law Commission as part of their review include offering couples greater flexibility over the form of their ceremony, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations and to provide a framework that could allow non-religious belief organisations, such as Humanists and independent celebrants, to conduct legally binding weddings.
The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has made available for people who (a) want to have a legally recognised humanist marriage and (b) must also have a civil marriage to gain legal recognition but are unable to do so as a result of the challenges of registrar availability in some parts of country following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Delivery of registration services falls to local authorities who continue to manage the demand for civil marriage within their respective geographical areas during recovery from the pandemic
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting legal recognition to humanist marriages on the same time-limited basis as proposed for outdoor civil marriages.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish his Department's submission to the Independent Review of Administrative Law's call for evidence.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
As the Lord Chancellor said when he gave evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 8 December (https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1369/default/), the Government will publish the report of the Independent Review of Administrative Law. We will consider publication of submissions made to the Review consistent with the usual disclosure provisions.