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Written Question
Courts and Tribunals
Tuesday 9th January 2024

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle court and tribunal backlogs.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The pandemic and barristers’ disruptive action created a significant challenge for our courts, but we are working hard to reduce outstanding caseloads across all jurisdictions.

Thanks to our investment in judicial recruitment, we expect to recruit over 1,000 judges this financial year across all jurisdictions.

We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work in our court buildings over the next two years.

We also continue work to maximise the capacity of the tribunals, aided by a new electronic case management system.


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme: Asylum
Tuesday 14th February 2023

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022 resulted in a grant of legal assistance.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme: Asylum
Tuesday 14th February 2023

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance were made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme: Asylum
Tuesday 14th February 2023

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests were made for legal assistance by asylum applicants for their initial asylum application in 2022.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.


Written Question
Family Courts: Expert Evidence
Thursday 14th July 2022

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond the letter from the victims’ commissioner for London, Claire Waxman, and others on the use of unregulated psychological experts in the family courts.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

I thank both Claire Waxman and the Survivor Family Network for their letters on the use of unregulated experts in the family courts. This is an important issue, and we take the concerns raised within the letters seriously. We are actively considering our response and will be replying to both Claire Waxman and the Survivor Family Network ahead of the summer recess.


Written Question
Asylum: Legal Opinion
Thursday 10th February 2022

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2021 resulted in a grant of legal assistance.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.

Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.


Written Question
Asylum: Legal Opinion
Thursday 10th February 2022

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests were made for legal assistance by asylum applicants in relation to their initial asylum application in 2021.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.

Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.


Written Question
Asylum: Legal Opinion
Thursday 10th February 2022

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance were made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2021.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.

Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.


Written Question
Prisons: Visits
Friday 18th June 2021

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when physical contact will be allowed between visitors and prisoners during visits as part of the easing of covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Whilst restrictions on physical contact are easing in the community, high-risk and closed environments like prisons, hospitals and care homes are still required to take extra measures to stop infections spreading. In England and Wales almost all establishments have now commenced delivery of Stage 3 of the National Framework, which allows for social visits with social distancing and face coverings. We are working with Public Health England and Public Health Wales to look at how we can take safe and incremental steps to improve the visits experience. We are acutely aware of the impact of this on prisoners and their loved ones, but social distancing will need to continue for now for most in-person visits to protect visitors and people in prisons.

Physical contact, however, is now allowed during prison visits for children aged under 11 to reflect public health advice on their needs and the relative transmission risks for that age group. In addition, two adults from two different households can now visit together, making it easier for prisoners to see more people.

A pilot scheme has been commenced involving six prisons, allowing physical contact for visitors who can confirm that they have tested negative on the day of the visit. The information we get from this pilot will aid our national plans for the safe provision of visits.


Written Question
Coroners: Gambling
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of gambling being recorded as a relevant factor, where appropriate, in Coroner's proceedings.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

As set out in the response to the report by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry, Gambling Harm—Time for Action, the Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including gambling issues, can support better interventions.

However, as the Committee observes, whilst a coroner may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide, it is generally beyond the coroner’s jurisdiction to determine why someone died, with the aim of the inquest being to determine who died, and how, when and where they died. This is for a number of reasons, including the fact that a coroner’s investigation is a fact-finding exercise and coroners are not permitted by statute to appear to determine any question of civil or criminal liability against another person.