Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to extend the time limit for Criminal injuries Compensation Claims for victims of sexual abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) exists to compensate for serious physical or psychological injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply.
There are already special arrangements in place for people applying for compensation for an injury sustained in childhood, and in all cases where a claim is made outside of the applicable time limit they can be considered in exceptional circumstances.
We recently held a public consultation on potential reforms to change the length of time people have to submit a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. We asked for views on increasing the time limits for child victims of sexual abuse, as well as other violent crimes, and on increasing them for all applicants. We will make decisions about whether to amend the time limits as soon as possible in 2024 as part of our comprehensive review of the Scheme.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the categorisations used by his Department for collecting data on the ethnicity of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma people are consistent with those used by the Office of National Statistics.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We recognise the importance of more and better data when it comes to tackling disparities, and we have come a long way since the Lammy Review when it comes to monitoring and publishing ethnicity data. We believe the correct approach is to use the detailed 18+1 classification of ethnicity, and this is now adopted throughout the Courts, Prison, and Probation services.
We are continually reviewing how we can improve the collection, distribution, and analysis of ethnicity data in the justice system, and currently we are focusing on ensuring a consistent approach with 18+1 the current standard.
We understand that not everyone will be comfortable or confident about declaring their ethnicity at the point of entry into the justice system. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has therefore developed a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) strategy to improve data collection, experiences and outcomes for GRT people in prison.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the level of parity in sentencing guidelines between hate crime based on disabilities and hate crime based on race.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Sentencing guidelines are a matter for the independent Sentencing Council. However, the approach to the sentencing of hate crimes is primarily set out in legislation.
This Government recognises that hate crime legislation, having been developed and added to over time, has prompted concerns that it is not sufficiently coherent and is difficult for practitioners and criminal justice agencies to implement. These concerns include parity between disability and other hate crime strands.
Recognising these issues, we asked the Law Commission to conduct a review into the coverage and approach of hate crime legislation. This review examined the adequacy and parity of protection offered by the law relating to hate crime and the current range of offences and aggravating factors in sentencing. The Law Commission reported its recommendations in 2021.
The Government is considering its proposals carefully and will respond to the recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, why easy read materials for his Department's consultation on Human Rights Act Reform were only released 12 days before the consultation was scheduled to end.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The publication of the easy-read version of our consultation on A Modern Bill of Rights was regrettably delayed due to issues with an external supplier. As a result of this, the Secretary of State has extended the deadline for responses by six weeks for those with needs for an easy-read or audio version of the consultation document. The new deadline for these responses is 19 April.
Ministry of Justice officials will be conducting focused engagement sessions with disability organisations to explore the proposals outlined in the consultation further. The Department will also complete a full Equalities Impact Assessment of any proposals taken forward.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that easy read materials are released for consultations in a timely manner.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For all consultations, the Ministry of Justice considers the needs of the audience group and takes action to improve reach and accessibility, following best practice through the provision of accessible formats for consultation documents. We strive to ensure that our publications are accessible for people with disabilities, including the timely provision of easy read versions where these are considered necessary.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps his Department is taking to support victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We are building on the landmark Domestic Abuse Act to improve victims services, to ensure that victims can secure justice in our courts and to pursue perpetrators ruthlessly.
Victim support funding is rising to £185 million by 2024/25, including increasing the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Abuse Advisors to more than 1000 and we are extending the time limit for prosecuting domestic abuse-related common assaults to help victims secure justice.
The government’s focus on this most hidden and pernicious of crimes will continue with the publication of our Domestic Abuse Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria is applied to housing prisoners who are transgender (a) with a certificate of gender reassignment and (b) without a certificate of gender reassignment.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service take the allocation of transgender prisoners very seriously. All transgender prisoners (whether or not they have a gender recognition certificate) are managed in line with the policy framework ‘The Care and Management of Individuals who are Transgender’.
Prisoners are initially held according to their legal gender. If a prisoner wishes to move to the part of the prison estate that does not match their legal gender, a Complex Case Board must be held, chaired by a senior prison manager, to consider any risks involved (both to or from the prisoner).
A prisoner can also be moved via the Complex Case Board process if placing them in the part of the prison estate matching their legal gender presents an unmanageable level of risk (to themselves or to others). Separate accommodation is also available in the women’s estate for transgender women with gender recognition certificates who are assessed as posing too high a risk to be located with other women.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the data collected by coroner's courts; and whether he plans to take steps to gather that data centrally.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises the good work done by volunteers who support bereaved families and others who attend coroners’ courts. However, extending support services - such as the Coroners Courts Support Service - to cover all 85 coroner areas remains subject to affordability.
The Ministry of Justice collects annual data on coroners’ inquests which is then used to inform policy making. An annual statistical bulletin is published on the GOV.UK website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2020. Coroner statistics for 2021 will be published on 12 May 2022.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the role of the volunteers service in the coroner's court system; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating funding to that service to help ensure uniformity of access.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises the good work done by volunteers who support bereaved families and others who attend coroners’ courts. However, extending support services - such as the Coroners Courts Support Service - to cover all 85 coroner areas remains subject to affordability.
The Ministry of Justice collects annual data on coroners’ inquests which is then used to inform policy making. An annual statistical bulletin is published on the GOV.UK website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2020. Coroner statistics for 2021 will be published on 12 May 2022.