Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of legal aid providers in (a) Nottingham East constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government is taking steps to review the long-term sustainability of the Criminal Legal Aid market across England and Wales. Last year, following phase one of this review, we injected up to £51m per annum into Criminal Legal Aid, in areas of work that practitioners told us mattered the most. This year we launched the second phase, an independent review, led by Sir Christopher Bellamy QC, that will consider the sustainability of the whole Criminal Legal Aid system so that it can meet demand now and into the future, provide an effective and efficient service that ensures value for money for the taxpayer and provide defendants with high-quality advice from a diverse range of practitioners. Sir Christopher will submit his recommendations to the Lord Chancellor later this year.
In addition, MoJ continues to consider the long-term sustainability of civil legal aid, recognising that we need to take a whole system approach. The department has also been engaging with representative bodies and providers within the sector to increase our understanding of the challenges providers currently face.
The Legal Aid Agency continue to keep legal aid provision under constant review, ensuring access across England and Wales and taking immediate action whenever this could be threatened. Additionally, the LAA continues to monitor the state of the market to ensure access to justice is maintained.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of judges available for criminal trials.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The timely delivery of justice is a priority for the government. The department is working closely with the judiciary to ensure we have the capacity required to maximise the number of court hearings taking place this year and to minimise disruption to cases listed for hearings. We allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms. We are now focused both on increasing capacity and maximising use of that which we already have. There is no limit on the number of days Crown Courts can sit this financial year and we are supporting temporary changes to court operating hours.
Judicial capacity is being boosted through a programme to recruit up to 1100 judges this year. When there is a business need, in any jurisdiction, the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice can approve extensions of relevant judges’ appointments past their mandatory retirement age and approve retired salaried judges to sit in retirement on an ad-hoc basis. Significant action is also being taken every day by both individual court and Regional Judicial Secretariats to ensure judges are available for all hearings. Every effort is made to contact judges to ensure a case can proceed, from contacting individual judges directly to request cover, to assessing whether other nearby courts can assist.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the last minute cancellation of court hearings as a result of a lack of availability of judges.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The timely delivery of justice is a priority for the government. The department is working closely with the judiciary to ensure we have the capacity required to maximise the number of court hearings taking place this year and to minimise disruption to cases listed for hearings. We allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms. We are now focused both on increasing capacity and maximising use of that which we already have. There is no limit on the number of days Crown Courts can sit this financial year and we are supporting temporary changes to court operating hours.
Judicial capacity is being boosted through a programme to recruit up to 1100 judges this year. When there is a business need, in any jurisdiction, the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice can approve extensions of relevant judges’ appointments past their mandatory retirement age and approve retired salaried judges to sit in retirement on an ad-hoc basis. Significant action is also being taken every day by both individual court and Regional Judicial Secretariats to ensure judges are available for all hearings. Every effort is made to contact judges to ensure a case can proceed, from contacting individual judges directly to request cover, to assessing whether other nearby courts can assist.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to review pay rates for prison officers who joined the Prison Service (a) before and (b) after 2010.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Prison Officer pay rates are reviewed annually through the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) process. This process reviews pay rates for those who joined the Prison Service before and after 2010. The PSPRB process for 2021/22 is currently underway.
PSPRB information be found on the Gov UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/prison-services-pay-review-body.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the backlog in the criminal justice system of cases involving sexual abuse of children and young people on victims and their families.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Government is committed to understanding and mitigating the impact that caseloads in the criminal justice system are having on victims, including victims of child sexual abuse.
Part of this is achieved through ensuring that criminal courts’ recovery remains on track. We are making excellent progress and now have over 250 jury rooms open. Further courtrooms will continue to be made available in the existing estate and in Nightingale courts. Young victims of sexual abuse will also benefit from the accelerated rollout of the Section 28 (Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence (YJCE) Act 1999) (pre-recorded cross examination and re-examination) service for vulnerable witnesses, which includes all children under 18.
To support victims of childhood sexual abuse in their recovery, we have doubled the funding available for voluntary sector organisations providing direct support to victims and survivors of abuse at a national level to £2.4 million until 2022. This will provide vital national services including support lines, online resources and remote counselling.
The Ministry of Justice has also awarded £12 million to 91 rape support centres across England and Wales to provide independent, specialist support to female and male victims of sexual violence. This is an increase of £4 million from 2019/20 and includes £1.8 million of ringfenced funding for victims of recent and non-recent child sexual abuse. This new funding is in addition to the £4.8 million per annum already provided to Police and Crime Commissioners by the MoJ to support victims of child sexual abuse (part of the £69m provided this year for them to commission victim support services based on local need).
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 that social visits to prisoners can be made possible at every prison.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Social visits to prisons were suspended on 24 March 2020 and because of the suspension and our wider actions to tackle COVID, lives have been saved and the NHS has been protected from the impact of widespread local outbreaks.
In line with the National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services published on 2 June 2020, prisons have gradually been re-commencing social visits since 8 July 2020 with many sites already holding visiting sessions. More are scheduled to resume in the coming days and weeks.
Establishments are progressing at their own speed, taking full account of their specific local circumstances. We continue to work with individual prisons to adjust restrictions in response to local conditions which may include an outbreak of infection in the prison or community.
Where social visits have resumed, there are necessary measures in place to protect visitors, prisoners and staff from the risk of infection. They include compulsory face coverings for visitors, social distancing and enhanced cleaning regimes.
A temporary video call service to support prisoners maintaining contact with family and friends has also been introduced. This is intended for use whilst contact is limited.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of permitting independent celebrants to carry out legal marriage ceremonies.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Law Commission will make recommendations regarding how provision could be made for the use of independent celebrants and the Government will decide on provision once the Law Commission publishes its recommendations. The Law Commission has now published a consultation paper as part of its review and will welcome responses from all.
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 support law centres that have been financially adversely affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
We recognise the valuable role that Law Centres, and the wider not-for-profit advice sector, play in local communities across the country, and we support them in this vital work.
We are aware that Law Centres may experience financial issues due to the Covid-19 outbreak and have been working at pace to consider options to support them and other not-for-profits who provide this important service.
I am therefore pleased to say that the Government is allocating £5.4 million in funding to the not for profit providers of specialist legal advice.
£3 million of this will be earmarked specifically for Law Centres.
This is in addition to the £370m of funding that the National Lottery Communities Fund is administering, which qualifying third sector organisations, including those within the advice sector, will be able to bid for directly.