Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the time taken to process probate applications in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the right honourable member to the answer given to PQ 11482 on 10 June 2021.
The answer can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-06-07/11482
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department taken in each year since 2013 to raise the standards of coroner investigations to ensure that bereaved families are satisfied with that investigation process.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
In July 2013 we implemented the coroner reforms in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 with the aim of putting bereaved people at the heart of the coroner system. This included the appointment of a Chief Coroner of England and Wales who provides training to all coroner and coronial officers through the Judicial College and reports annually to the Lord Chancellor on standards across all coroner areas.
Since July 2013 we have merged a number of coroner areas across England and Wales to deliver new areas that are better placed to provide a consistent standard of service to bereaved families There are now 85 coroner areas compared to 110 in 2012.
In April 2017 we removed the requirement for inquests where the deceased had been deprived of their liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 removing the need for unnecessary inquests where a person died from natural causes.
Our report of the Review of Legal Aid for inquests published in February 2019 set out the work we have been doing to make inquests more sympathetic to bereaved families.
This includes a revised Guide to Coroner Services, published In January 2020 (the original was published in February 2014) which is focused on the needs of bereaved families and contains a new protocol on the approach government departments and its lawyers will take when they have interested person status in an inquest, to make sure that bereaved families continue to be at the heart of the inquisitorial process.
We continue to work with the Chief Coroner to review we are doing to ensure that bereaved families are well supported.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Senior Coroner at the Southport office plans to make a decision on reopening the investigation into the death of Laura Higginson; and whether a Middleton type inquest will be part of that consideration.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Coronial investigation decisions are entirely a matter for coroners as independent judicial office holders; it is therefore inappropriate for the Government to comment on those decisions.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve case supervision as a result of the HM Inspectorate of Probation inspection of Cheshire and Greater Manchester Community Rehabilitation Company report published in April 2019.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) report into Cheshire and Greater Manchester Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) awarded the service a rating of ‘requires improvement’. The Ministry of Justice takes the findings of HMIP in relation to CRCs very seriously and will work with the provider to ensure that an appropriate plan is in place to address the identified areas for improvement.
We have been clear that probation services need to improve and are taking decisive action to stabilise and improve the delivery of probation services, We are investing an additional £22m a year to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through the Gate service to offenders leaving prison. This will include sustained support to find accommodation and employment on discharge.
We want to see a more stable and resilient probation system which better integrates public, private and voluntary providers, so they work more effectively together to protect the public and reduce re-offending. We have taken decisive action by ending current Community Rehabilitation Company contracts early and last year, conducted a consultation on future arrangements. We are considering the feedback received and will set out detailed plans later this year.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in the Borough of Halton were prosecuted for illicit drugs offences in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts for drugs offences, in the Cheshire Police Force area, from 2010 to 2016, can be viewed in the table. All prosecutions, including those for indictable drugs offences, commence in a magistrates’ court.
Court proceedings data for 2017 are planned for publication in May 2018.
Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for drugs offences, Cheshire Police Force Area, 2010 to 2016 (1)(2)
Force/Local Justice Area | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
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Cheshire | 857 | 836 | 886 | 888 | 997 | 1,014 | 949 |
of which: |
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Halton (3) | 119 | 161 | 278 | - | - | - | - |
North Cheshire (3) | - | - | - | 358 | 421 | 372 | 424 |
'-' Nil
(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
(3) Halton Local Justice Area merged into North Cheshire Local Justice Area from 1 January 2013
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when she plans to update the safety in custody statistics.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Safety in Custody statistics are published quarterly. The latest bulletin was published on 27 October 2016 and can be found on gov.uk
Each bulletin contains the date of publication for the next update.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many full-time equivalent prison officers there were in England and Wales; and what the ratio of prison officers to prisoners was in prisons in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Information on the number of prison officers employed and on the prison population are available on gov.uk. The published workforce information covers public sector prisons only and so is not directly comparable to the headline population information.
Safe prisons are fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system. Our dedicated prison officers, who support tens of thousands of prisoners every day, are vital to the safe running of our prisons. We have recruited 2,900 staff over the last 12 months and are taking significant action to make sure we have appropriate staffing levels.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the timeliness of the provision of toxicological analysis by LGC Forensics to coroners in England and Wales.
Answered by Simon Hughes
Operational responsibility for coroner services lies with local authorities and any assessment of the timeliness of toxicological analysis by LGC Forensics is a matter for them. The Ministry of Justice has responsibility only for coroner law and policy. It has not made, and would not make such an assessment.