Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendation by the Prison Service Pay Review Body to offer different paid contracts for Prison Officers on Fair and Sustainable rates and closed rates; and what steps he is taking to address disparities between the two pay structures.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In 2012, HMPPS introduced of a new common pay and grading structure called Fair & Sustainable (F&S) that applied to all new staff who joined the service after 1 April 2012 and existing staff who would benefit from opting into the modernised pay structures. This was a Workforce Policy decision and therefore not determined by the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB). There are, however, still a group of staff employed pre-2012 who remain on legacy “closed” grade pay structures. The reason for this is that they would not benefit financially from “opting in” to F&S so they have been allowed to remain on legacy terms. This year, because of the Prison Service Pay Review Body recommendations, the majority of closed grade staff will financially benefit from opting into the Fair & Sustainable pay structures and we will encourage them to do so.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to support parents who do not live with their children to maintain contact where that contact is hindered by the resident parent or guardian.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is aware of the difficulties that parents can face in continuing a relationship with their child following parental separation or divorce.
Under the current legal framework, a parent can apply for a child arrangements order for the child to live with or spend time with them. The welfare of the child is paramount in any decision regarding child arrangements, including decisions about the nature and extent of parental involvement.
We are committed to supporting families to resolve private family law matters outside of court where appropriate to ensure that matters are resolved earlier, before conflict becomes entrenched.
The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme provides families with up to £500 towards mediation with a trained, authorised professional to help resolve child arrangement issues in a less adversarial way. As of 26 March 2023, over 16,100 families have now benefitted from the scheme. Analysis of the first 7,200 users shows 69% wholly or partially resolve their issues and don’t need to go on to court, other than for a consent order to formalise their agreement. The government announced on 23 March that an additional £15m would be provided to continue the scheme for up to a further two years. This will allow it to help around a further 28,500 families over the period.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of work stations available for people employed by his Department on departmental premises.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We refer the honourable member to the reply for PQ No. 61202, which provided the number of workstations available for Civil Servants to use in our headquarters buildings.
There is no central record held regarding the number of workstations available across the rest of our estate
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many work stations were available for civil servants to use in the headquarters of his Department on 11 October 2022.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There are currently 3,146 work stations available for civil servants to use in the buildings across the UK that are used by MoJ’s headquarters.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle backlogs in the coroners' court system.
Answered by Simon Baynes
Coroner services are funded and administered by local authorities. However, the Government recognises the pressures experienced by local authorities as a result of the pandemic and has provided £6.15 billion in un-ringfenced funding to local authorities in England and additional funding to the Devolved Administrations under the Barnett formula, to help them manage the costs of those additional pressures, which could include coroner services.
The Chief Coroner has issued guidance to coroners on developing recovery plans and engaging with local authorities on the resources required to deal with the outstanding backlog of cases caused by the Covid 19 pandemic: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GUIDANCE-No-39-Covid-recovery-20-05-2021-002.pdf. He is also undertaking a tour of all coroner areas to engage with them on their post-pandemic recovery plans.
The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022, which received Royal Assent on 28 April, includes a number of measures to streamline coroners’ court processes, support the coronial system with post-pandemic recovery plans and minimise distress to bereaved families.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of successful prosecutions made under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in each year since the Act came into place.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions and convictions for offences under the Modern Slavery Act in the ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, available below: