Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will include domestic abuse offences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will consider the potential merits of designating misogyny as a hate crime.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will consider the suitability of sentences for honour-based violence.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will consider the suitability of sentences for stalking offences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review consider the suitability of sentences for doxing offences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department’s sentencing review will include sexual violence offences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for this Government. This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Our manifesto committed to a review of sentencing to ensure the framework is up to date. In October 2024, the Government launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke.
The Sentencing Review will be guided by three principles. Firstly, sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders.
Secondly, sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime, cutting crime by reducing reoffending. Thirdly, we must expand and make greater use of punishment outside of prison.
The Review has a broad remit. It will be up to the chair to decide on the areas of focus, but we have asked the Review to specifically look at the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what her planned timetable is for establishing specialist rape courts in every Crown Court location in England and Wales.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We know that, due to the complexity of the cases, victims of rape can wait longer than victims of other offence types for their case to complete in court. We remain committed to delivering our manifesto pledge to fast-track rape cases.
The fast-tracking of rape cases has dependencies with, and impacts on, the rest of the criminal justice system, including the wider Crown Court caseload and the capacity of the rape and serious sexual offences specialist legal workforce. We are carefully considering how best to deliver this. We plan to work closely with the judiciary and will be able to say more in due course.
We are also considering what changes could make victims feel better supported at court. Over 400 professionals, including court staff, CPS and the police, have already received trauma-informed training at Snaresbrook, Leeds and Newcastle Crown Courts. In some courts, witness waiting rooms and in-court technology have also been upgraded.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what timetable she has set to introduce a victims’ legal advocate in every police force area.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to introduce free independent legal advisors for victims and survivors of adult rape.
The Government plans to launch a single national service which will serve all police force areas. Once the service is rolled out in full, every victim of adult rape will have the opportunity to access a legal advisor no matter where they live.
We plan to introduce the service later this year, with a phased rollout. A phased rollout will enable us to better understand the costs, demand, benefits for victims, and wider impacts on the justice system. We are currently in the process of designing how this phased rollout will take place.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to review sentencing guidelines for extreme misogyny.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government has made a clear commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence. We will also work with key partners and organisations that support victims of these crimes.
Sentencing guidelines are developed and reviewed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. The guidelines produced provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is. As an independent body, the Council decides its own work plan and priorities.
The Government has launched an independent Sentencing Review, chaired by David Gauke. The review has been asked to specifically examine the sentencing of offences primarily committed against women and girls.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to encourage uptake of the SafeLives Independent Domestic Violence Advisor training course.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Under Section 16(1) of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (“the Act”), the Secretary of State is required to issue guidance on victim support roles which are specified in regulations. The Government will shortly consult on draft statutory guidance on Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs). The IDVA guidance aims to improve the consistency of support delivered to victims by providing best practice recommendations, including on minimum training requirements.