Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it a statutory duty for judges to comply with guidance in the Equal Treatment Bench Book.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In line with the principle of judicial independence, it is the senior judiciary and not the Government who have statutory responsibility for judicial guidance and training.
It would therefore not be constitutionally appropriate for the Government to seek to prescribe how this responsibility should be discharged.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure safe, transparent and non-discriminatory judicial use of artificial intelligence.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The judiciary are constitutionally independent and have established their own procedures and policies governing the use of artificial intelligence. Guidance for judicial office holders on the appropriate and responsible use of AI has been issued by the judiciary and is publicly available on the judiciary’s website.
Judicial office holders, like civil servants within the Ministry of Justice, have been provided with secure versions of Microsoft Copilot. The deployment of this tool for judicial use has been subject to a data protection impact assessment to ensure compliance with data protection legislation and principles.
The judiciary’s approach to AI is designed to ensure that any use of AI by judicial office holders is safe, transparent, and consistent with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, while preserving judicial independence.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to require public authority respondents in Judicial Review hearings to confirm compliance with the duty of candour at Permission Stage.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The duty of candour is a well-established principle in judicial review, and its application is clearly set out in the Administrative Court’s Judicial Review Guide.
The duty of candour applies at all stages of judicial review proceedings. This duty requires all parties to ensure that relevant information is put before the Court, whether it supports or undermines their case. There is a particular obligation on public authorities to ensure that this duty is fulfilled given they are engaged in a common enterprise with the Court to fulfil the public interest in upholding the rule of law.
At the permission stage, public authorities are required to identify any material facts, highlight any matters of factual dispute and provide a summary of the reasoning underlying the measures in question. The Court can take into account a lack of candour in deciding whether to grant permission.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to amend the Civil Procedure Rules to make explicit that litigants-in-person are not to be denied procedural safeguards normally afforded to represented parties, including circulation of draft reserved judgments.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Civil court rules governing judgments and orders are set out in Part 40 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and are supplemented by Practice Directions (PD). PD40E provides additional directions in relation to reserved judgments before they are handed down. Paragraph 2.3 of PD40E states that the court will provide a copy of the draft judgment to the parties’ legal representatives, however, paragraph 2.4 goes on to state that a copy of the draft judgment may be supplied to the parties provided that they: 1) do not disclose it or its substance to anyone else; and 2) do not take any action in relation to the judgment until it is handed down. This, therefore, provides for litigants in person to be given an embargoed/draft judgment and to engage with the steps taken before such a judgment is handed down.
It is also important to recognise that Part 1 of the CPR sets out the overriding objective of the rules. These overriding objectives include ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing and can participate fully in proceedings. This is the principal safeguard under pinning how the rules operate in practice.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of limiting the right to jury trial on civil liberties.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The right to a fair trial is a well-established common law principle in England and Wales to which this government remains committed. A fair trial can be achieved by alternative modes of trial and currently over 90% of criminal cases are heard in the magistrates’ courts, without a jury.
Jury trials are a cornerstone of our justice system and will remain in place for the most serious cases, however, we must consider bold action to tackle the rising backlog.
Sir Brian Leveson has published the first part of his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, setting out a number of recommendations on the use of jury trials in the Crown Court.
The right to a fair trial is a well-established common law principle in England and Wales to which this government remains committed. A fair trial can be achieved by alternative modes of trial and currently over 90% of criminal cases are heard in the magistrates’ courts, without a jury.
We are carefully considering Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response in the autumn.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help tackle the backlog of possession proceedings in court (a) in advance and (b) on implementation of the Renters’ Rights Bill.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The most recent published statistics show the median time from claim to order falls within the Civil Procedure Rules stipulation that possession claims should be listed within 4 to 8 weeks. HMCTS is making improvements to bailiff recruitment and retention practices to ensure staffing resources are available to enforce judgments made by the County Courts in those cases where it is subsequently needed.
The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure the justice system is fully prepared for the implementation of the Renters Rights’ Bill.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to Legal Aid for discrimination claims in the Employment Tribunal.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available for legal advice and assistance in relation to discrimination cases which fall under the Equality Act 2010 or previous discrimination legislation, subject to passing the means and merits tests. Legal aid for other employment matters may be available through the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) Scheme, if a failure to provide legal aid would breach, or likely risk a breach of, an individual’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and immigration legal aid fees in January 2025. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, including as part of the second phase of the Government’s Spending Review.
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. There are currently 20 providers who offer legal aid services in relation to the Discrimination category of legal aid operating out of 24 offices across England and Wales. The LAA monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis. Where additional supply is needed it takes action within its operational remit to ensure access to legal aid-funded services.
The LAA also maintains the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) Helpline. This is a national telephone helpline that helps members of the public check whether they may be eligible for civil legal aid and triages them to appropriate sources of advice. The CLA Helpline provides specialist remote advice though legal aid in four categories of law, including discrimination, for any individual that is determined to be eligible for these services. The majority of advice and assistance cases in the discrimination category are currently delivered by the CLA service.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that specialist violence against women and girls services are aware of the early release of prisoners with known histories of those offences.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The decision that this Government has taken to release some prisoners early is a difficult but necessary one.
We want women and girls to feel safe, and ministers and officials are meeting regularly with the specialist women and girls’ sector to ensure they have the information they need to support victims and survivors throughout early release of prisoners. On 22 August, Minister Timpson and I chaired a roundtable meeting with over thirty groups representing victims and survivors to provide detail on the release process and support available for them. I have also been working closely with the sector and the Victims’ and Domestic Abuse Commissioners to ensure information reaches those working directly with victims and survivors every day.
Ensuring victims and survivors are safe and supported is my priority, and I will continue to engage closely with the victims’ sector throughout this process and beyond.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish data on the gender of people ordered to wear an alcohol monitoring device in each year since 2020.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Housing and Planning)
Alcohol monitored, electronic monitoring subjects by gender, England and Wales, at month's end, from March 2021. Source: AMS Contractor data. | ||||
|
| Mar-21 | Mar-22 | Mar-23 |
| Males and Females |
|
|
|
Number | Females | 7 | 116 | 248 |
Number | Males | 28 | 778 | 1,991 |
Number | Other | .. | 4 | 9 |
Total number | Total | 35 | 898 | 2,248 |
| Males and Females |
|
|
|
Proportion of total | Females | 20% | 13% | 11% |
Proportion of total | Males | 80% | 87% | 89% |
Proportion of total | Other | .. | 0% | 0% |
These figures are drawn from administrative data systems provided by contractors. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent.
‘Other’ refers to instances in which data on gender has not been received, or the individual has not disclosed their gender or identifies as non-binary.
The table includes individuals wearing an alcohol monitoring device and subject to an Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) as a requirement of a community order or suspended sentence order, and individuals subject to an Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) condition following custody.
AAMR is a community-based sentence requirement for alcohol related offending which imposes an alcohol ban for up to 120 days, compliance is electronically monitored using an alcohol tag. AAMR was introduced in Wales in October 2020 and was expanded to all England and Wales in March 2021.
AML allows probation to impose an additional licence condition that either bans drinking alcohol or limits use, monitored by an alcohol tag. Rollout in England and Wales was completed in June 2022.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department conducted a women-specific impact and health needs assessment prior to the roll out of the use of alcohol monitoring tags.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Housing and Planning)
There have been two equalities impact assessments, both of which considered offenders’ sex, prior to the Department’s introduction of alcohol monitoring.
An Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out on the alcohol monitoring measures introduced by the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, it is published and available using this link: Alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement (justice.gov.uk).
A further Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out and published alongside the Statutory Instrument to commence the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement, The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020, and is available using this link: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).