Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme among victims of domestic violence.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government publishes information on the Unduly Lenient Scheme online on the GOV.UK website, but we are also exploring how to increase awareness of this scheme to victims of crime.
The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims’ Code) sets out a minimum standard of service and information that must be provided to victims of crime by the criminal justice system. We are currently consulting on a revised Code, which for the first time includes information for victims about the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to allocate funding from the public purse for legal representation in the Court of Appeal to families who have been refused legal aid.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Legal aid continues to be available for the highest priority cases—for example, when an individual’s life or liberty is at stake, when someone faces the loss of their home, in domestic violence cases, or when children may be taken into care – subject to an applicant passing the test of means and merits. This includes all eligible cases that are taken to the Court of Appeal.
All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency. Ministers are prevented by law from intervening in this process. It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to introduce (a) paired proximity GPS, (b) alcohol abstinence monitoring equipment and (c) other new tagging technology to protect victims of domestic violence through new electronic monitoring contracts.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The new electronic monitoring system under development will introduce GPS enabled location monitoring and is being designed on a flexible and scalable platform to allow for further new monitoring technologies to be introduced. The introduction of new monitoring technologies after the new system is in service in 2019 will depend on the evaluation of the benefits any new technology would provide. The learning from two alcohol monitoring schemes currently being piloted in the country will help inform any future decision to roll out alcohol monitoring technology nationally.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child contact cases involving incidents of domestic abuse where there (a) has and (b) has not been a conviction have been repeatedly brought before the family courts.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the requested data. The President of the Family Division recently revised the practice direction which sets out the procedure for family judges to follow when dealing with child arrangement cases where domestic abuse is alleged. This makes clear that judges must take appropriate steps to explore any allegations of domestic abuse and give full regard to the impact of any abuse when making a child arrangement order.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle the use of the family courts system by perpetrators of domestic abuse as a tool for continuing their abuse.
Answered by Phillip Lee
It is unacceptable for someone to use court processes to harass or abuse a former partner. The family court has wide powers to manage such situations.
New family court rules were introduced last November to make sure vulnerable court users get the support they need in the courtroom. Training for judges, on this and other matters, is the responsibility of the Lord Chief Justice and is carried out by the Judicial College. At the specific request of the President of the Family Division every family judge in England and Wales will have received training on how to address the challenges faced by vulnerable people in the courts by April 2018. Issues of domestic abuse are regularly addressed on an ongoing basis as part of the training for family judges.
The Government is also committed to legislating to give family courts the power to stop abusers from cross-examining their victims in person in family proceedings.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any Ministers in his Department attended the Presidents Club Charity Dinner run by the Meller Educational Trust in an official capacity.
Answered by Phillip Lee
No Ministers from the Ministry of Justice attended the Presidents Club Charity Dinner either in an official or personal capacity.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the evidential basis was for his decision to establish five new community prisons for women.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. The drivers for reform of our estate for women offenders share similarities with the adult male estate, although the issues they face are different. We are developing a strategy for female offenders to improve outcomes for women in the community and custody.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the locations identified by his Department for the five new Community Prisons for Women.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation. We are developing a strategy for female offenders to improve outcomes for women in the community and custody. No decisions have been made on the locations of the proposed Community Prisons for Women. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the introduction of the Female Offenders Strategy.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.
Considering how we can best address the needs of female offenders, to improve outcomes for them, their families and their communities, is a complex issue that we want to get right.
We are working hard to develop the Female Offender Strategy and we will publish in due course.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 22 June 2017, Official Report, column 168, on legal aid being available to families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, how that aid will be distributed; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that those people affected understand the legal aid process and have fair and independent access to legal representation.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government has announced that it will meet the costs of providing victims with legal representation at the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. There is provision for providing such funding under section 40 of the Inquiries Act 2005. This is not Legal Aid. Details of the funding and how victims can access it will be announced by the inquiry in due course.
In addition, Legal Aid may be available to cover certain legal costs that victims may face outside the inquiry, such as advice about being re-housed.