Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to mitigate the potential impact of fixed term recalls of 28 days on levels of violence against women and children.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government inherited a justice system in crisis. If our prisons run out of space, we would risk the safety of thousands of victims and the wider public. The measure being introduced excludes anyone sentenced to more than 4 years, anyone who has committed a serious further offence and anyone subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) levels 2 and 3. These multi agency arrangements will apply to certain sexual and violent offenders, including many domestic abusers. This will ensure these types of offenders can continue to receive longer recall periods where appropriate. We will be setting out further details of exemptions and safeguards when we put the Statutory Instrument before parliament. However, without this measure, we would run out of prison places by November 2025.
All offenders are subject to robust licence conditions on release, such as tagging, curfew, protective orders and exclusion zones. They may be recalled again for breach of those conditions.
Asked by: Katie White (Labour - Leeds North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to speed up proceedings within the Family Court system; and what initiatives are being implemented to enhance the digitisation of documents and processes.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Delays in the court process can have a significant impact on children and families. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to improving timeliness of cases and reducing the outstanding caseload.
The Family Justice Board agreed system-wide national targets for reducing delay in 2024/25. These are focused on closing the longest running cases in private and public law, resulting in a reduction of the private law cases by 10% and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe.
The HMCTS Reform Programme has introduced several new digital services within the Family Courts, enhancing and automating the administration of family court orders. These services encompass Divorce, Financial Remedy, and Public Law Proceedings. Currently, HMCTS is piloting a new digital service for private law proceedings, aiming to replicate the administrative improvements seen in other family services. This service is scheduled to be implemented across England and Wales by the end of 2025.