To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Prisoners: Rehabilitation
Wednesday 15th February 2023

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support prisoners reintegrate into society.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Effective resettlement of prison leavers is a core part of our efforts to reduce re-offending. This includes making sure someone has a home, family links where appropriate, access to healthcare, a job or further education, and/or access to benefits.

We know that employment reduces the chance of reoffending significantly, by up to nine percentage points. The proportion of prisoners released from custody employed at six months rose by almost two thirds between April 2021 and March 2022. That is an increase of nine percentage points, from 14% to 23%.

We also know that supporting prisoners to tackle addictions is important to reduce reoffending. MoJ is investing up to £120m to support more offenders into treatment – including increasing the number of Incentivised Substance Free Living units to up to 100, and establishing up to 18 new, abstinence-only Drug Recovery Wings.

Our temporary accommodation service is designed to ensure that prison leavers at risk of homelessness have a stable base on release, improving their opportunities for employment.

The introduction of Resettlement Passports will bring together the key information and services that are needed to resettle in the community, such as bank accounts, CVs and identity documents to prove the right to work and rent.


Written Question
Probate
Friday 10th September 2021

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle delays with probate applications and (b) improve communication between probate offices and applicants.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The most recently published information regarding combined waiting times for a grant of probate, on paper and digital cases, covers January 2021 to March 2021 and is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 25):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2021

Despite the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic, and as a result of HMCTS increasing resources to meet demand, the average length of time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has been maintained at between four to six weeks.

HMCTS continues to listen to user feedback and to invest in the improvement of the online Probate system to make it more accessible and easier for applicants to understand.

Improvements have also been made to communication routes. As of March 2020, all calls are now answered by the Courts & Tribunals Service Centres, which are equipped with modern technology to monitor performance levels and make improvements to the service being offered.

Contact channels and operating hours have also been extended to meet user needs meaning the service can now be contacted via:

For professional users, real time information about the progress of digital cases can now be obtained via the online Probate service without the need to contact HMCTS.


Written Question
Pleural Plaques: Compensation
Wednesday 30th October 2019

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to re-establish the right to compensation for people in England and Wales who developed pleural plaques as a result of exposure to asbestos.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The Government has no plans to reopen the pleural plaques compensation scheme, which operated between 2 August 2010 and 1 August 2011.

The scheme operated as an extra-statutory one, making £5000 payments on an ex-gratia basis to applicants who fulfilled the scheme’s criteria, namely that they were individuals who had begun, but not resolved, a legal claim for compensation for pleural plaques at the time of the House of Lords ruling in October 2007 in the case of Rothwell v Chemical & Insulating Co Ltd [2007] UKHL 39. That ruling had held that the occurrence of pleural plaques is not a compensatable disease.

Eligibility for the scheme was limited to that category of people as they would have had an understandable expectation of receiving compensation when they began their claim, an expectation which would not have been shared by those diagnosed later.


Written Question
Prisons
Wednesday 16th May 2018

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to close older prison facilities and open new ones over the next five years.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Government set out its ambition for a reformed prison estate in the November 2016 Prison Safety and Reform White Paper including announcing building modern prisons on the sites of the former HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Glen Parva and HM Prison Wellingborough. Through the Ministry of Justice’s prison estate transformation programme we are getting the basics right by building decent prisons to improve rehabilitation and create safe and secure environments for staff and offenders. We will close prisons that cannot provide decent facilities, are expensive to operate and/or maintain; reinvesting savings into the maintenance or enhancement of the prisons in the estate.

On 22 March 2017 the Government announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build four modern prisons: adjacent to HM Prison Full Sutton in Yorkshire, Port Talbot in Neath and redevelop HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Rochester in Kent and HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Hindley, in Greater Manchester. Construction of a new 202 place houseblock at HMP Stocken, in Rutland is already underway. This will be ready for use from December 2018.

No decisions have been made about prison closures other than those already announced.


Written Question
Prisons: Modernisation
Wednesday 16th May 2018

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to modernise prison buildings.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Government set out its ambition for a reformed prison estate in the November 2016 Prison Safety and Reform White Paper including announcing building modern prisons on the sites of the former HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Glen Parva and HM Prison Wellingborough. Through the Ministry of Justice’s prison estate transformation programme we are getting the basics right by building decent prisons to improve rehabilitation and create safe and secure environments for staff and offenders. We will close prisons that cannot provide decent facilities, are expensive to operate and/or maintain; reinvesting savings into the maintenance or enhancement of the prisons in the estate.

On 22 March 2017 the Government announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build four modern prisons: adjacent to HM Prison Full Sutton in Yorkshire, Port Talbot in Neath and redevelop HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Rochester in Kent and HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Hindley, in Greater Manchester. Construction of a new 202 place houseblock at HMP Stocken, in Rutland is already underway. This will be ready for use from December 2018.

No decisions have been made about prison closures other than those already announced.


Written Question
Small Claims
Wednesday 15th June 2016

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the Government is proposing to raise the small claims limit to £5000 rather than to £3000.

Answered by Dominic Raab

The Government is determined to crack down on the compensation culture and has announced reforms, including raising the small claims limit, to tackle the problem. These reforms will build on previous measures taken by the MoJ to control costs, tackle fraud, strengthen the medical evidence process and reduce incentives to pursue trivial whiplash claims. £5,000 is considered to be the appropriate level for the small claims limit and the rationale for this will be set out in the consultation document which will be published in due course.


Written Question
Missing Persons: Guardianship
Tuesday 24th May 2016

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the guardianship of the property and affairs of missing people.

Answered by Dominic Raab

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton on 9 March 2016, which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-03-01/29212/.


Written Question
Employment Tribunals Service: Pregnancy
Monday 30th November 2015

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what account he has taken of trends in reports of pregnancy discrimination as in his review into employment tribunal fees.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

On 11 June we announced the start of the post-implementation review of the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunals. The review will consider, so far as is possible, the impact the fees have had on those with protected characteristics and the types of case they bring. In order to do this, we will be giving all relevant material the appropriate consideration.

The review is underway and will report in due course.


Written Question
Missing Persons: Guardianship
Monday 15th June 2015

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department will publish the legislation proposed in its response to its consultation on the Guardianship of the property and affairs of missing persons, published on 23 March 2015.

Answered by Dominic Raab

My Department is working to prepare the legislation necessary to create the new legal status of guardian of the property and affairs of a missing person. We are grateful for the continued assistance in this work of the charity, Missing People, and its pro bono lawyers, Clifford Chance. We will bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.