Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase availability of legal aid to people who are victims of violence against women and girls, particularly in relation to people who wish to pursue judicial review.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. As part of delivering this mission, we are committed to ensuring that victims of VAWG can access justice, including through the legal aid system.
Civil legal aid remains available for eligible judicial review proceedings, subject to the statutory eligibility criteria being met. Legal aid is also available for private family matters such as child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused. Funding is also subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests.
We have amended legislation to ensure that legal aid continues to be available for victims of domestic abuse. This includes making legal aid available for eligible domestic abuse victims whose immigration status depended on an abusive partner enabling them to apply to regularise their immigration status, as well as providing availability for Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders. The changes also permit the use of overseas medical evidence for legal aid applications, and we have updated legislation and guidance to reflect the changes in terminology and definitions. The Government is also reviewing domestic abuse evidence requirements to ensure they do not create barriers to accessing legal aid.
The civil legal aid equity disregard is available to all individuals, including victims of domestic abuse, applying for legal aid. This means that £100,000 of the value of a person’s interest in their main residence will not be considered [when assessing capital] within the legal aid means test.
This Government has extended the equity disregard so it can also apply to victims of domestic abuse who have temporarily left their home, though it is still in essence their main residence in which they have an interest. This change recognises that while victims may own property, they may be unable to benefit from the home due to the presence of an abuser. The equity disregard also applies to means testing for legal aid in relation to judicial review.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the relevance of mental health conditions to the sentencing of people convicted of child sexual abuse.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Sentencing decisions are a matter for our independent courts, following any relevant sentencing guidelines, issued by the Sentencing Council. Sentencing guidelines are designed to increase consistency and transparency in sentencing.
The Council has issued a package of guidelines on sexual offences, as well as an overarching guideline to assist courts when sentencing offenders with any mental disorder, neurological impairment or developmental disorder. These are available on its website at: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/crown-court/.
As the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned during Justice Oral Questions on 16 December, I will bring your particular concerns to the attention of the Chair of the Council.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to speed up the sentencing of people found guilty of domestic violence.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin
As part of our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, we are committed to strengthening the justice system’s response to domestic violence.
Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts where cases move more swiftly than the Crown Court. Despite this, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system, particularly in more serious cases that reach the Crown Court.
This Government inherited a justice system in crisis. That is why we have asked Sir Brian Leveson to lead an Independent Review of the Crown Courts, which will propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims of serious crimes, including victims of domestic abuse.
In parallel, we are actively exploring the merits of specialist domestic abuse court models as recommended in the Sentencing Review. In November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in pilot areas to improve victim safety, and we have committed to rolling out domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms to improve frontline responses.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that victims of domestic violence do not have the sentencing hearings of their abusers postponed the day before they are due to take place.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The decision on when and where a case is listed is the responsibility of the independent judiciary. Judges are guided in this task by judicial listing principles, which stipulate that cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses should be prioritised for hearing.
Judges continue to prioritise cases subject to Custody Time Limits, as well as prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses (including youth cases), domestic abuse and serious sex cases.
The courts do everything possible to ensure hearings take place for when they are listed, however, there are occasions when circumstances outside of their control result in a hearing needing to be postponed. In such circumstances, the court will notify parties as soon as possible.
The Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice have concluded the Concordat process, which sets out the overall budget for HMCTS and the number of days the courts can sit, earlier, to help ensure the courts can hear more of these important cases in a timely fashion.
There are a number of factors that would mean a case can no longer go ahead, including court maintenance. This is why we have announced a boost in court maintenance and capital project funding from £120 million last year, to up to £148.5 million for 2025/26. This will help fund vital repairs across the entire court and tribunal estate and contribute to the construction of the next generation of court and tribunal buildings.
However, we recognise we must go further. That is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. Given the scale of the challenge facing the courts we will look to act on recommendations from the review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible