Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Heald and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 18th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

I think the hon. Lady will have been pleased to see a paragraph in relation to extradition in the future framework.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Ministers will be aware of the very low attainment in reading among prisoners. Is anything being done to try to improve the situation? I understand that the average reading age in a prison is 11.

Criminal Legal Aid

Debate between Oliver Heald and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 8th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Oliver Heald]

I think everyone would acknowledge that to go out and do the job of a criminal barrister is incredibly demanding, and that the profession faces challenges of various sorts. On the negotiations on the advocates’ graduated fee scheme, great efforts were made to involve the Bar at every stage. The Legal Aid Agency put a huge amount of work into the talks, as did the Ministry of Justice. The intention was to find a better way of paying barristers, not to do anyone down. Does the Minister agree that the response to the consultation document, which was so positive, seems to have evaporated for some reason?

[Lucy Frazer]

My right hon. and learned Friend, who was a Minister at an early stage in this process, makes a very important point. The scheme we are debating today came about because both the Bar and the Government accepted that the old scheme was outdated. Advocates told us that it did not reflect the amount of time and effort they put into their cases. For example, under the old scheme there were no separate fees for the second day of a trial and there were no fees for a sentence hearing. The new scheme is the result of a two-year exercise involving the leadership of the Bar—the Bar Council—the Criminal Bar Association and the circuit leaders. When the scheme was put forward in a consultation in 2017 it was widely welcomed by those organisations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Heald and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the Bill is in the hands of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and it will respond.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

May I update my hon. and learned Friend? Some 34 out of the 41 police commissioners in this country support the Service Animals (Offences) Bill, and lawyers up and down the country, including Sarah Dixon, who runs the Finn’s law campaign, have identified a gap in the law. Is it not time that the Government backed my Bill?

[Lucy Frazer]

I am grateful for a third opportunity to address this issue and to speak again—this is the third time that I have heard my right hon. and learned Friend express his support for the Bill in the Chamber. As I have said, the Government are looking at this issue, and the matter is primarily for DEFRA.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Heald and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Oliver Heald]

It is important to do both, and we have a package of measures that achieves that, so I do not think the hon. Lady need concern herself that we are not taking this forward.

[Lucy Frazer (South East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

As the Secretary of State mentioned, the Supreme Court judges application process ends on Friday. In circumstances where around 20% of Court of Appeal judges and 20% of High Court judges are female, what is she doing to ensure we get more diversity in our highest courts?