Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will hold discussions with the Judicial College on the adequacy of the mandatory training for judges on (a) domestic abuse and (b) coercive control.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To preserve judicial independence, statutory responsibility for judicial training is held by the Lady Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner. These responsibilities are fulfilled by the Judicial College. Whilst the content of judicial training is for the judiciary to decide, Ministers have relayed the Government’s view of the importance of domestic abuse training for judges and magistrates.
All judges and magistrates complete induction and regular continuation training. Training is designed to equip the judiciary with the essential knowledge and skills they need to discharge their duties effectively.
Family judges completed specialist mandatory training on domestic abuse between 2022 and 2024, which was also made available to civil judges. Training for judges who hear criminal cases includes judgecraft, effective decision-making and sentencing, and advancing procedural fairness. Dealing with the vulnerable in court and issues relating to domestic abuse are interwoven into much of the training. Magistrates sitting in the family and criminal jurisdictions receive mandatory domestic abuse training. The training is trauma-informed and reflects the wide nature of domestic abuse including coercive and controlling behaviour. Training seminars are complemented by a range of other resources, including the Equal Treatment Bench Book which includes specific guidance in relation to domestic abuse.
The College regularly reviews its training to ensure it remains high quality and up to date, and reflects contemporary law, practice and procedure.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure children are adequately safeguarded in family courts.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Children Act 1989 requires the court to have the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration when making a decision about the child’s upbringing. Any decisions the family courts make about the future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle.
This Government is delivering a package of reform to the family courts to ensure that children continue to be safeguarded and supported. This includes the expansion of the Pathfinder programme, which promotes child safeguarding through early multi-agency collaboration, expert domestic abuse support, and greater emphasis on the voice of the child.
This Government also recognises the significant impact that delays in court proceedings can have on children and families. That is why it is working to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness, so that children can access the support and stability they need without unnecessary delay. This includes the agreement of system-wide targets by the Family Justice Board for 2025/26, with a continued focus on tackling delay and reducing outstanding caseloads. In public law proceedings relating to children (such as care proceedings), this involves a renewed emphasis on the procedure set out in the Public Law Outline; and in private law proceedings relating to children (such as applications for child arrangements orders), areas delivering the Pathfinder model have made significant progress in addressing delays.
We are also working closely with the Department for Education to support the delivery of their reforms to children’s social care, underpinned by measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The Government will share further plans for reform in due course.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of pay for workers in the Probation Service.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We are committed to supporting probation officers and value their hard work, commitment and dedication. As part of our approach to annual award proposals we will review our pay position and priorities for the award to get the best outcome for staff. As part of this process, we consider several factors including cost of living, business priorities and our competitive pay position with comparable workforces. Our pay proposals need to strike the difficult balance between affordability and providing investment to address our pay priorities and support attraction and retention.
In recent years we have made investments to pay through a multi-year pay deal (MYPD) covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025. This provided certainty in pay increases throughout the period and secured necessary reforms to the pay structure to help address some longstanding pay issues.
We are currently engaging with the recognised Probation Service Trade Unions working to agree the best possible outcome for this year’s pay award in line with our priorities and the parameters of the civil service pay guidance.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people will be released early from prison due to overcapacity in Kent in September 2024; and how many units of accommodation are available for those people.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
As the allocation process is still in progress, the total number of individuals in Kent to be released from custody at 40% of their standard determinate sentence is not yet known. It is also therefore not possible to ascertain how many units of accommodation would be needed.
Certain offences have been excluded from the SDS change. This includes sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security. The change will also not apply to sentences subject to release at the discretion of the Parole Board, or to offences which currently attract automatic release from a standard determinate sentence at the two-thirds point (certain serious sexual and violent offences).
Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict license conditions that would have applied had they been released at a 50% automatic release point. They will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions, or are judged to be a risk to public safety.
Any who are at risk of being homeless upon release can be referred to H M Prison & Probation Service’s Community Accommodation Service, which can provide up to 12 weeks’ temporary accommodation, and we are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to mitigate any impact on local authorities, as well as taking practical steps to minimise the chances that individuals are released homeless.