Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of sending coroner inquest notification letters to bereaved family members using signed for delivery.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, it does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Moreover, coroners are independent judges and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them.
Rule 9(1) of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 requires the coroner to notify the deceased person’s next of kin of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing. The method by which this notification is provided is a matter for the individual coroner service.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing bereaved family members to receive coroner inquest notifications by text message.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, it does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Moreover, coroners are independent judges and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them.
Rule 9(1) of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 requires the coroner to notify the deceased person’s next of kin of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing. The method by which this notification is provided is a matter for the individual coroner service.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the repeal of section 69 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 on the wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Section 69 of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), provided that computer evidence would not be admissible unless it was shown that (i) there were no reasonable grounds for believing the evidence was inaccurate because of improper use of the computer and (ii) the computer was operating effectively at the time. This was repealed in 2000 based upon the recommendation of a Law Commission review which identified a number of shortcomings with the legislation.
Section 69 of PACE was replaced by the Common Law rule, namely that a “presumption will exist that the computer producing the evidential record was working properly at the material time and that the record is therefore admissible as real evidence". There are safeguards in place which allow for this presumption to be rebutted if evidence to the contrary is adduced.
We are considering the issues relating to computer evidence arising from the Post Office cases and the findings of the courts where there have been appeals. The courts have raised concerns about the “egregious” behaviour of the Post Office in the way that it prosecuted these cases. In particular, concerns have been raised about the way reliability of evidence from the Horizon system was presented and how failures of investigation and disclosure prevented that evidence from being effectively challenged.
We await the outcome of Sir Wyn Williams’ Inquiry which is examining in detail the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It would not be appropriate for the Government to pre-empt those findings.
Pending the outcome of the Inquiry, the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee will consider current practices and potential problems relating to the reliability of computer evidence, drawing on case law and experience in England and Wales and other jurisdictions.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) shortest, (b) mean average and (c) longest period of time was that it has taken for the Office of the Public Guardian to register a lasting power of attorney document in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In the last 12 months (from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023), the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) registered and dispatched 916,059 Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) applications. All LPAs are subject to a statutory notice period of four weeks. The shortest period for OPG to register and dispatch an application was 20 days; this was for highly urgent cases and includes the statutory notice period. The mean average to register and dispatch an application was 91.52 days. The longest period was 983 days in a case where it was necessary to refer the matter to the Court of Protection.
The above figures exclude the registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney which, while valid, have been replaced by LPAs since the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into effect. An LPA application is considered ‘received’ once payment is made by the customer to the OPG. The application process is completed once an application is registered and dispatched to the customer. Applications may take longer to be registered if they contain errors that need to be rectified by the customer. The time taken for customers to remedy these errors is included in the length of time recorded. ‘Days’ represent working days, i.e. excluding weekends and bank holidays.
OPG is facing high demand to register LPA applications, including overcoming a backlog created during the pandemic. OPG is advising customers that the processing time for LPA applications is currently up to 20 weeks, including the statutory waiting period. To return to processing times achieved before the pandemic, extra staff have been hired, staff are working overtime and across multiple shift patterns, and process efficiencies have been introduced. The government is also supporting the Powers of Attorney Bill, which will create a faster and simpler service for customers in future.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether their Department has purchased mobile UV virus irradiation units.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have no records of purchasing any units.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the total declared value of deceased people’s estates notified to Probate registries in England for financial years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The attached table shows the total declared value of deceased people’s estates notified to Probate Registries in England and Wales for financial years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the availability of qualified legal aid solicitors for asylum seekers.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to ensuring that those seeking asylum in this country have access to publicly funded legal advice and representation. In 2021-22, we received over 35,000 applications for legal aid for asylum cases, spending over £32 million.
Access to legal aid is a key part of a fair immigration system, which is why we are spending around £8m expanding access to legal aid, helping victims of modern slavery, individuals prioritised for removal and individuals appealing an age assessment decision.
The Legal Aid Agency keeps market capacity under constant review and takes immediate action when gaps appear.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to increase the level of fees for Family Legal Aid lawyers for Special Children Act proceedings.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The government takes seriously its commitment to provide access to justice for all which also means supporting the sustainability of legal aid providers. In the latest financial year, the Government spent £1.6 billion on legal aid, £812 million of which was spent on civil legal aid. Fees for family legal aid lawyers are considered within the context of the wider civil legal aid system and the recently announced civil legal aid sustainability review will explore solutions which will support all providers in the long-term.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 86612, what is the (a) shortest, (b) mean average and (c) longest period of time that an actionable piece of correspondence received by the Probate Office in the last twelve months has taken to receive a reply.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In September 2022, 32% (108) of Probate complaints were closed within target of 10 days. HMCTS is investing additional resource to improve both the speed of its complaint handling but also probate waiting times.
The average mean time for HMCTS to issue a grant of probate after receiving an actionable piece of correspondence is 33 days. Some grants of probate will be issued significantly quicker than this (5% on the same day) whilst others will take longer (over 2 years is the longest with less than 1% over a year). This is usually when the application is more complicated and further evidence would be required, the removal of a caveat is needed, or a Will is contested.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 86612, if he will make it his policy to publish the (a) number and (b) proportion of complaints which meet the target of having received a reply within 10 working days.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In September 2022, 32% (108) of Probate complaints were closed within target of 10 days. HMCTS is investing additional resource to improve both the speed of its complaint handling but also probate waiting times.
The average mean time for HMCTS to issue a grant of probate after receiving an actionable piece of correspondence is 33 days. Some grants of probate will be issued significantly quicker than this (5% on the same day) whilst others will take longer (over 2 years is the longest with less than 1% over a year). This is usually when the application is more complicated and further evidence would be required, the removal of a caveat is needed, or a Will is contested.