Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will increase funding for (a) magistrates courts and (b) county courts to prevent court closures.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service assesses the court and tribunal estate against its estates principles - ensuring access to justice, delivering value for money and enabling efficiency in longer-term.
The decision to close any court is not taken lightly – it only happens following full public consultation and only when effective access to justice can be maintained. Courts that have closed were either underused, dilapidated or too close to one another with every penny of those closed since 2016 reinvested in the justice system.
We have always been clear that our Reform Programme will result in the need for fewer court and tribunal buildings and that this will only happen when there is sound evidence that people are using them less.
There are currently no active proposals to close further crown or magistrates’ courts beyond those already announced.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of voter ID fraud in the last twelve months.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is no specific offence of voter ID fraud. Cases are usually prosecuted as offences involving fraud by false representation as well as offences involving impersonation.
It is not possible to ascertain if an offender was convicted specifically for voter ID fraud as this information is not centrally held in the court proceedings database. As a result, identifying the number of offenders convicted for voter ID fraud from court data would require a manual search of court records, which would be of disproportionate cost.
The Electoral Commission hold more detailed information which can be found at this link: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data/2018-electoral-fraud-data
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress his Department has made in reviewing the legal aid means test.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government announced the review of the legal aid means test on 7 February 2019, as part of the Legal Support Action Plan.
The review will consider the full range of means-testing criteria including the applicable thresholds for legal aid entitlement and their interaction with wider criteria.
The review is in progress, bringing together data, evidence and expertise, and liaising with experts from across the field to explore potential improvements to the system.
This comprehensive review of the legal aid eligibility regime is expected to conclude in summer 2020 after which we will publish a full consultation paper setting out our future policy on the proposals in this area. We will seek to implement any final recommendations as soon as practicable following public consultation.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to announce proposals for the future of the probation system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Last year, we announced our decision to end current Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts early. Following this, we launched a consultation, Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence, and engaged with stakeholders and the market on the future of the probation system.
We are currently considering options for future delivery arrangements and reflecting carefully on the balance of public, private and voluntary sector involvement. It is important that we take the time to get this decision right. We will aim to publish a formal response to our consultation, detailing our future plans later this year.
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he is taking to reduce tribunal waiting times for people attempting to claim personal independence payment.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal
Asked by: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse has been of administering appeal tribunals for personal independence payment applicants.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information requested is not held centrally. The cost of personal independence payment hearings is included in the overall cost of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support Appeal).