Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review the cross examination of witnesses in child abuse prosecutions.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Ministry of Justice conducted a review of ways to reduce distress that some victims suffer from cross-examination in trials of sexual violence. For the purposes of the review, sexual violence was an umbrella term which covered offences charged under sexual offences legislation as well as other legislation that deals with abuse and exploitation of children and vulnerable people. The review included current day and historical offending so that victims of all ages and types were considered.
A report of the review was published in March 2014 on the government website and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-review-of-ways-to-reduce-distress-of-victims-in-trials-of-sexual-violence.
In September last year, we published Our Commitment to Victims which included plans to protect vulnerable victims and witnesses in court. Measures outlined include giving vulnerable witnesses greater opportunity to give evidence from a location away from the courtroom, rolling out pre-trial recorded cross-examination for child victims (subject to the evaluation of pilots) and requiring publicly-funded advocates in cases involving serious sexual offences to undertake specialist training on dealing with vulnerable people. The latter was a recommendation from the review.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will give victims the right to be represented at mental health tribunals.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 provides victims with a right to make representations to the mental health tribunal, in certain categories of case. These submissions are limited to the type of conditions (if any) which may be imposed on the patient should they be released from detention. The Chamber President has issued guidance as to when a tribunal should consider allowing a victim to make submissions.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to implement the European Directive 2012/29/EU on victims of crime; and what assessment he has made of the implications of that Directive for the work of the police and Crown Prosecution Service.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Government is committed to fully implementing the EU Victims’ Directive by the deadline of 16 November 2015. By signing up to the Directive, we are promoting improved standards on the entitlements, support and protection available to victims of crime across the EU and to the benefit of UK citizens.
The Government produced an impact assessment when we made our opt-in decision on the draft version of the EU Victims’ Directive in 2011 and assessed that some articles in the Directive could have associated costs for the police and prosecution services. Amendments to some of these provisions were secured during negotiations on the Directive.
The Government will explore the implications of the final version of the Directive when we implement it in November 2015.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will implement a victim's bill of rights.
Answered by Mike Penning
This Government is committed to putting the highest emphasis on victims’ needs.
We implemented a new Victims’ Code in December 2013 to give victims of crime clearer entitlements and a stronger voice. The Code entitles victims to make a personal statement about how the crime has affected them and to ask to read it aloud in court if the defendant is found guilty, and for bereaved close relatives to meet the CPS prosecutor before the trial. Also, victims attending court as witnesses are entitled to meet the CPS prosecutor and ask him or her questions about the court process, where circumstances permit.
In September 2014, the Government published ‘Our Commitment to Victims’. This included a commitment to enshrine the rights of victims in law by putting the key entitlements of the Victims’ Code into primary legislation, including the right to make a Victim Personal Statement and to request to read it out in court. Other key entitlements from the Victims’ Code which will be put into primary legislation include: early identification of priority victims and witnesses and assessment of their needs; automatic referral to the relevant support organisations; and information for victims about their case, at every stage.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it mandatory for a victim's impact statement to be presented in criminal proceedings at Crown court.
Answered by Mike Penning
This Government is committed to putting the highest emphasis on victims’ needs.
We implemented a new Victims’ Code in December 2013 to give victims of crime clearer entitlements and a stronger voice. The Code entitles victims to make a personal statement about how the crime has affected them and to ask to read it aloud in court if the defendant is found guilty, and for bereaved close relatives to meet the CPS prosecutor before the trial. Also, victims attending court as witnesses are entitled to meet the CPS prosecutor and ask him or her questions about the court process, where circumstances permit.
In September 2014, the Government published ‘Our Commitment to Victims’. This included a commitment to enshrine the rights of victims in law by putting the key entitlements of the Victims’ Code into primary legislation, including the right to make a Victim Personal Statement and to request to read it out in court. Other key entitlements from the Victims’ Code which will be put into primary legislation include: early identification of priority victims and witnesses and assessment of their needs; automatic referral to the relevant support organisations; and information for victims about their case, at every stage.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it mandatory for prosecutors to meet victims before the start of trials at Crown court.
Answered by Mike Penning
This Government is committed to putting the highest emphasis on victims’ needs.
We implemented a new Victims’ Code in December 2013 to give victims of crime clearer entitlements and a stronger voice. The Code entitles victims to make a personal statement about how the crime has affected them and to ask to read it aloud in court if the defendant is found guilty, and for bereaved close relatives to meet the CPS prosecutor before the trial. Also, victims attending court as witnesses are entitled to meet the CPS prosecutor and ask him or her questions about the court process, where circumstances permit.
In September 2014, the Government published ‘Our Commitment to Victims’. This included a commitment to enshrine the rights of victims in law by putting the key entitlements of the Victims’ Code into primary legislation, including the right to make a Victim Personal Statement and to request to read it out in court. Other key entitlements from the Victims’ Code which will be put into primary legislation include: early identification of priority victims and witnesses and assessment of their needs; automatic referral to the relevant support organisations; and information for victims about their case, at every stage.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will give transcripts of trials to the families of murder victims.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Ministry of Justice provides families of homicide victims with a copy of the judge’s sentencing remarks in any case of murder, manslaughter or offences of causing death on the road.
Upon request, Her Majesty Courts and Tribunal Service will consider providing transcript of other key parts of the trial.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many immigration tribunal decisions in favour of the applicant were subsequently overturned on appeal in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 to date.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Upper Tribunal disposed of 8,902 appeals between April 2013 and March 2014. 2,238 of these appeals have been identified as lodged by the Home Secretary, of which 943 were allowed.
The Upper Tribunal disposed of 4,635 appeals between April and September 2014, the last date for which figures are currently available. 1,964 of these appeals have been identified as lodged by the Home Secretary of which 730 were allowed.
In all cases, lodged by either the appellant or Home Office, the Upper Tribunal dismissed 4,630 appeals in 2013/14 and 2,425 appeals during the period April to September 2014.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the UK plans to sign the International Convention for the Protection of all persons from Enforced Disappearances (2006).
Answered by Simon Hughes
The UK already has a strong framework that protects human rights and protects against arbitrary arrest, as set out in the UK’s Mid Term Report under the Universal Periodic Review submitted in August 2014.
The UK is a party to a number of United Nations human rights treaties. Before ratifying a treaty, the UK Government carries out an evaluation of the legislative and administrative changes that adherence would entail.
The Ministry of Justice is currently co-ordinating an evaluation of the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED). We will provide further details on this evaluation in the next UK report under the United Nations Universal Periodic Review in 2016, or in an earlier vehicle if possible.
The relevant section of the UK’s Mid Term Report can be found at pages 24-26 here: http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session13/GB/UKMidTermReport_Aug2014.doc).
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Romanian-born prisoners are being held in British prisons.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
On 31 March 2014 there were 588 prisoners in England and Wales who declared they were Romanian on reception to prison.
All foreign national offenders sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.
Romania has implemented the EU Prisoner Transfer Arrangement and relevant cases have been referred to the Home Office to obtain deportation orders.
The Prisoner Transfer process is just one mechanism for removing Foreign National Offenders. The number of FNOs deported under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS), which we introduced in May 2012, we have removed over 240 FNOs to date.
Whereas this Government has begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.