Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of prisoners serving public protection sentences in Wales.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The table below shows the number of IPP/DPP prisoners in Wales, as at 30 December 2023:
Region | Recalled | Unreleased |
Wales | 113 | 38 |
On 16 October 2023, the Lord Chancellor announced he would be looking at options to curtail the licence period to restore greater proportionality to IPP/DPP sentences in line with recommendation 8 of the Justice Select Committee’s report, published on 28 September 2022.
The Lord Chancellor announced on 28 November 2023, that these changes are being taken forward in the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
The new measure will:
The Lord Chancellor was persuaded by the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the qualifying licence period from 10 years to five years and is going further: reducing the period to three years. These amendments will restore greater proportionality to IPP/DPP sentences and provide a clear pathway to a definitive end to the licence and, therefore, the sentence.
In addition to these changes, the actions this Government are taking are working; the number of prisoners serving the IPP sentence who have never been released now stands at 1,227 as of December 2023, down from more than 6000 in 2012.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Welsh language translation on (a) question five and (b) part four of the cremation form one used by funeral directors; and whether he has plans to alter the translations.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is aware of an error in the translation of question 5 which sits under part 4 of the Welsh form Cremation 1. We are in the process of correcting this error, and we expect the revised form to be available shortly.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of when the Law Commission will begin its review of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is in close consultation with the Law Commission and we will make an announcement shortly.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the length of time it takes for HM Courts and Tribunals Service to complete a grant of probate application.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic, and the increased volume of applications that have been seen since, the average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of all the documents required has been maintained at between five and seven weeks – with the average responses being almost 1 week faster in quarter 3 of 2022 than the yearly average for 2020 and 2021.
HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand following an increased number of estates requiring probate and is further increasing resourcing to further bring down overall timeliness on digital and paper applications.
Average waiting times for probate grants, up to September 2022, are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 24): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022.
Information covering up to December 2022 will be published on 30 March.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the devolution of responsibility for assisted dying.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There have been no discussions with the Welsh Government about responsibility for the law on assisted dying being devolved to Wales.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on justice of the resignation of the Victims Commissioner for England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
A recruitment campaign to appoint the next Commissioner is already underway and applications for the position closed on Monday 10 October. The Secretary of State for Justice will set out next steps in due course, but we are committed to ensuring that the voices of victims and witnesses continue to be heard while an appointment is made.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Law Commission on the time taken for publication of their consultation into marriage law in England and Wales; and what her planned timetable is for responding to the Commission's recommendations in the event that it is published in July 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government will carefully consider the Law Commission’s recommendations when the final report is published – this is expected to be in July 2022. The Government will be able to advise further on a timetable to respond to the Law Commission’s proposals once it has received these and assessed the breadth and complexity of the proposals.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to punish those guilty of murder of desecrating or concealing the bodies of their victims.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
On 8 November, the Government announced an Inquiry into the offences committed by David Fuller in Tunbridge Wells, and that we would be reviewing the existing penalty available for the offence of sexual penetration of a corpse. These reviews may highlight issues relating to the coverage of the existing offences that deal with desecration, and we will consider any changes to the law in light of their findings.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to introduce a mileage allowance which reflects the additional costs incurred by magistrates living in rural areas in undertaking their duties.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All magistrates can claim a mileage allowance as set out in the magistrates’ expenses policy. The rates for this allowance (per mile) are:
Car | Motorcycle | Bicycle | Passenger |
Single 45p rate for the first 10,000 miles, 25p thereafter | 24p | 20p | 5p |
These rates were introduced in April 2021 after a wider review of magistrates’ expenses. They reflect the recommended rates set by HMRC for tax purposes. The new rates are also used by the wider public sector, including the judiciary and the Civil Service.
As these rates are deemed by HMRC to be the appropriate amount to offset the cost of using private vehicles for business purposes, the Ministry of Justice has no plans to introduce an additional mileage allowance for magistrates.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March to Question 167184, whether he has received any representations from (a) individuals and (b) legal professionals who are concerned that a case could be brought under the Equality Act 2010 as a result of people being denied access to businesses due to non-compliance with covid-19 related restrictions.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice is not aware of receiving any representations from (a) individuals or (b) legal professionals who are concerned that a case could be brought under the Equality Act 2010 as a result of people being denied access to businesses due to non-compliance with covid-19 related restrictions. The Government’s equality assessment of the Coronavirus Act 2020 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-act-2020-equality-impact-assessment/coronavirus-act-2020-the-public-sector-equalities-duty-impact-assessment