Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an (a) economic and (b) equalities impact assessment of bringing forward legislative proposals for humanist marriages ahead of the outcome of the Law Commission's review of marriage law.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government consulted in 2014 on marriages by non-religious belief organisations. This concluded that the matter was complex, and that by allowing Humanists to solemnise marriages in unrestricted locations, the Government would create a provision for Humanists that would not be available to all groups. Its summary assessment of costs and benefits was published in the response, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/marriages-by-non-religious-belief-organisations.
To ensure we are considering the implications of changing the law on marriage on all groups, we invited the Law Commission to undertake a review which is currently underway and is expected to report in July of this year. By looking at the law comprehensively, the Law Commission will seek to put forward proposals that would ensure that, insofar as possible, groups and couples are all subject to the same rules, costs, and the same level of regulation. That reform is not possible by only authorising Humanist weddings, even on a temporary basis pending the Law Commission report. The Government will reconsider this issue on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2021 to Question 153196, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including parent and voluntary sector representation on the cross-government working group that has been established to look at the issues raised in relation to accessing matured Child Trust Funds (CTFs) in light of the Mental Capacity Act.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A cross-government working group has been convened to consider the issues raised in relation to access to matured Child Trust Funds for those who lack mental capacity. The group has representation from Her Majesty’s Treasury, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice. Learning Disability England and MENCAP are also engaged and providing valuable input to this work. We recognise that there are many individuals and advocacy groups who have an interest in this work, and we will ensure that we continue to engage with interested groups as proposals develop.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on public safety of the proposed early release of prisoners during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Public protection is paramount; only risk-assessed prisoners who are within two months of their release date will be considered for temporary early release from jail.
No high-risk offenders, including those convicted of violent or sexual offences, anyone of national security concern or a danger to children, will be considered for release, nor any prisoners who have not served at least half their custodial term. Additionally, no offender convicted of COVID-19 related offences, including coughing at emergency workers or stealing personal protective equipment, will be eligible.
Prisoners who pass the stringent criteria for release will be subject to strict conditions, and will be electronically monitored, including with GPS tags, to enforce the requirement to stay at home. Offenders can be immediately recalled to prison for breaching these conditions or committing further offences.
No prisoner will be released early if they have symptoms of coronavirus or without housing and health support being in place.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of days was for a body to be held before release by the West Sussex and Surrey coroners in (a) 2017 and (b) the first six months of 2018.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for the coroner service and only collects certain information from coroners, for example the number of deaths reported to them and the number of inquests and post-mortem examinations held. The Ministry does not collect information on the time taken for a body to be released to the family.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to prevent the further radicalisation of (a) terrorist and (b) terrorist-related offenders in prison.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) works closely with a range of partners to tackle terrorism and extremism of all ideologies. HMPPS have a wide range of interventions available to deal with such prisoners including transfer to others prisons, wing moves and where appropriate, segregations. In addition the Government opened its first Separation Centre in June 2017. A second centre open in March 2018. The centres have been established in order to hold the most subversive extremist prisoners, and safeguard the mainstream population from terrorist and extremist influences. HMPPS also has a strong multi-faith Chaplaincy dedicated to working with prisoners on all faith matters including providing a proper understanding of religion. In addition over 14,000 prison staff have received specialist extremism awareness training since January 2017.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The unduly lenient sentence scheme provides a valuable way to ensure that sentences for serious crimes can be challenged where they are considered to be unduly lenient. In 2016, the Attorney General referred 190 cases to the Court of Appeal, and in 141 of these the Court of Appeal increased the sentence.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many non molestation orders and prohibited steps orders were issued by the Sussex family courts of (a) Brighton, (b) Chichester, (c) Eastbourne, (d) Hastings, (e) Horsham and (f) Worthing for the first and second quarters of 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The table below sets out the numbers of non-molestation orders and prohibited steps orders issued by Brighton, Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Horsham and Worthing family courts in the first and second quarters of 2017:
Number of non-molestation and prohibited steps orders issued in Sussex Family Courts in 2017 | ||||
Non-Molestation | Prohibited Steps | |||
Court | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | Q2 |
Brighton | 56 | 73 | 29 | 34 |
Chichester | 7 | 22 | 1-5 | 1-5 |
Eastbourne | 27 | 21 | 7 | 10 |
Hastings | 77 | 90 | 31 | 65 |
Horsham | 27 | 36 | 9 | 9 |
Worthing | 18 | 16 | 1-5 | 7 |
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to use technology to improve the efficiency of the judicial process.
Answered by David Lidington
The Government is investing £1.1bn to transform our courts and tribunals and deliver a modern, swift and accessible justice system that maintains our global reputation for legal excellence.
As part of this we will digitise our services to make them easier to use, and install modern and robust technology across all courts, to make the lives of our excellent judiciary and professional users easier.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many non-molestation orders were issued that led to legal aid funding being granted at (a) courts in England and (b) Horsham County Court in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of non-molestation orders were issued by (a) courts in England and (b) Horsham County Court in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The table below sets out the numbers of non-molestation orders issued by courts in England and, specifically, by Horsham County Court in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Table 1. Number of domestic violence non-molestation orders issued in England and Horsham County Court | ||
Year | England | Horsham County Court |
14-15 | 23,482 | 53 |
15-16 | 23,335 | 55 |
16-17 | 23,724 | 87 |