Asked by: Jack Abbott (Labour (Co-op) - Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of crown court sitting days that have been reduced.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.
In June, the judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275 million.
To support efforts to maximise capacity, the Lord Chancellor has since agreed to fund an additional 500 days.
But there has been over listing against this budget – with more trials scheduled than the funding allows.
As a result, approximately 1,600 sitting days to be withdrawn. The level of impact will vary across regions and is being managed closely to ensure there is minimal disruption to all involved.
Asked by: Jack Abbott (Labour (Co-op) - Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on banning zombie-style knives and ninja swords.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes approved by Parliament earlier this year. The ban came into force on 24th September.
We will also be pressing ahead as soon as possible with a ban on Ninja swords, following the tireless campaigning of Pooja Kanda whose son Ronan was killed with one of these lethal weapons. We will be launching a consultation shortly and plan to introduce the legislation shortly afterwards when Parliamentary time allows.