Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024, HC 638, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of women born in the 1950s who have been affected by the State Pension age changes considered in that report.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report published on 21 March 2024 considers the communication to 1950s born women of the equalisation and increase of the State Pension age introduced by the Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007 and 2011. The Acts (collectively) increased the State Pension age for all women born after 5 April 1950. Based on current ONS figures it is estimated that there are around 3.5 million women who saw an increase in their State Pension age and were born in the 1950s.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of crime do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of rape do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog in court cases.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are committed to reducing the outstanding caseloads across jurisdictions and bringing down waiting times to ensure cases move through our system without delay.
Criminal courts
Over 90% of criminal cases are dealt with at the magistrates’ courts where the outstanding caseload remains well below its peak during the pandemic. We continue to invest in the recruitment of more magistrates, aiming to recruit 2,000 new and diverse magistrates this year and similar numbers of each in the coming years.
The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. The outstanding caseload has increased in recent years as more cases come before our criminal courts. To address this, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days at the Crown Court this financial year, alongside considering further measures to speed up justice.
Family courts
In March this year the Family Justice Board agreed clear and measurable priorities for the family justice system, with a clear focus on closing the longest running cases and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluding within the 26-week statutory timeline.
To deliver this, we plan to sit 102,500 days in the family court this financial year and are investing £10m to develop, test and evaluate new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law cases.
We are also working to reduce the number of private law cases coming to court by supporting earlier resolution of family disputes. As of August 2024, over 32,000 separating parents have accessed the Family Mediation Voucher scheme, which provides £500 towards the cost of mediation, sparing many families from lengthy courtroom battles.
The outstanding caseload for public and private family law was 11,162 and 42,255 respectively (HMCTS MI published 8 August 2024). This is a reduction when compared to the same period last year, where there were 11,297 outstanding public law cases and 45,938 private law cases. (HMCTS MI published 11 July 2024).
Civil courts and tribunals
The civil courts have been under significant pressure in recent years. This has come from increased volumes and judicial capacity being both limited and often shared with the family jurisdiction.
It is important to note, though, that timeliness is not the sole indicator of performance in the civil justice system, and speedy resolution is not necessarily the best or most feasible justice outcome for every kind of case; some claims simply take time to resolve.
This Government is working to support people to resolve their civil disputes as swiftly and effectively as possible. We are doing this by promoting, where appropriate, simpler, less costly, more consensual methods of dispute resolution, including mediation. This has the potential to significantly reduce the burden on the court system and deliver better outcomes for parties to disputes and society.
As part of HMCTS Reform, 94% of civil court services are, or are becoming, available online.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding for victims of crime is provided to Police and Crime Commissioners in a timely fashion after 31 March 2025.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to supporting victims of crime. The Ministry of Justice provides annual grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime. Supporting victims to cope is essential in helping them move forwards following the impact of the crime.
Funding after March 2025 will be agreed through the next Spending Review process, which we cannot pre-empt. We appreciate the importance of notifying PCCs and providers about future funding as early as possible in order to effectively commission, plan and deliver services.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Victims Grant will continue to be given to Police and Crime Commissioners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to supporting victims of crime. The Ministry of Justice provides annual grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime. Supporting victims to cope is essential in helping them move forwards following the impact of the crime.
Funding after March 2025 will be agreed through the next Spending Review process, which we cannot pre-empt. We appreciate the importance of notifying PCCs and providers about future funding as early as possible in order to effectively commission, plan and deliver services.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty that are not in receipt of Pension Credit in Liverpool Riverside constituency; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to the eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment on those numbers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on number of pensioners living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty that are not in receipt of Pension Credit in Liverpool Riverside constituency is not held.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will commission a equality impact assessment on the proposed changes to the eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Regulations will come into force on 16 September, the first day of the Winter Fuel Payment qualifying week.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the Government had regard to the equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024, HC 638, whether she plans to seek parliamentary time to enable hon. Members to vote on financial redress proposals.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As a newly formed Government we will need time to review and consider the Ombudsman’s report along with the evidence provided during the investigation.
Now the election has concluded we need to consider the views that have been expressed on all sides.
The issues outlined in the report are significant and complex, as such they require serious deliberation. Once this work has been undertaken, the Government will be in a position to outline its approach.
I met with representatives from the WASPI Campaign on the 5th of September.,
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Pension Credit have taken longer than 6 weeks to process in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not routinely capture data aligned to a 6-week clearance rate. However, we do capture data against a 50-day clearance rate, and our performance is published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk).
Of 248,000 Pension Credit claims cleared in performance year 2023/24, 192,000 were cleared within the planned 50-day timescale, equating to 77.7%. 56,000, 22.3% were cleared outside of the of the 10-week planned timescale.