Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Law Commission on the date of the publication of that body's report on reforming the laws on wills.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We regularly discuss with the Law Commission the timeframes for reports which the Government has commissioned, and which the Commission has to prioritise in order to resource each law reform project appropriately. The Commission paused completion of the wills project following Government’s request for it to prioritise work on weddings, in the light of the pressing need for reform in relation to how and where people can marry. The Law Commission expects to return to the wills project later this year.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will extend victims' rights to victims of mentally disordered offenders to be more comparable with those rights afforded to victims in the criminal justice system.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Government’s new Victims’ Code, which came into force on 10 December 2013, strengthens the rights of victims of crime, including where the offender is mentally disordered. The Code provides victims with clearer entitlements and better tailors services to individual need. Under the Code, criminal justice agencies must provide enhanced services to victims of the most serious crime; persistently targeted victims; and vulnerable and intimidated victims.
Since 2001, victims of specified sexual and violent offences where the offender receives a sentence of twelve months or more have been offered the Probation Victim Contact Scheme, which enables them to make representations about which licence conditions a prisoner should be subject to on release, and to be informed about key stages of sentence such as release on temporary licence and full release.
The Victim Contact Scheme was extended by legislation to victims of mentally disordered offenders with restrictions in July 2005, and to victims of mentally disordered offenders without restrictions in November 2008.
Since April 2014, there has been a presumption that victims of restricted mentally disordered offenders will be told if they are granted permission for escorted or unescorted leave from hospital for rehabilitative purposes.