"In my previous statements to the House, I have provided updates on the 2025 criminal cyber-attack against the Legal Aid Agency’s digital services and the steps that the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency have taken in response.
"We live in an era of problem solving, not point scoring. Indeed, as the Courts Minister, that has always been my focus. There is no bigger challenge in my portfolio than the unacceptable—indeed, intolerable—delays in our criminal courts, and that has always been the approach. To do politics is ultimately …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"I was glad to meet the hon. Member to discuss the situation at Taunton, which I know has been a deep source of frustration. Nothing could more exemplify the years of neglect of our justice system than our crumbling court estate that was presided over by the Conservatives. This Government …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"It is an honour to open the debate on the Report stage of the Courts and Tribunals Bill, and to bring this important piece of legislation back before the House. This is a Bill with victims at its heart. Its purpose is urgent and long overdue: to ensure that justice …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"I do not accept the premise of that question. I do not accept that we have a backlog in our magistrates court. What we have is a substantial caseload. The right hon. and learned Gentleman will know that the magistrates court hear more than 1.5 million cases a year, and …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"The ECHR contains some pretty basic principles: the right to privacy and the right to fair proceedings and a fair hearing. The Human Rights Act, one of the achievements of the previous Labour Government, brought rights home so that British people could enforce those universal inalienable rights in our domestic …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"How regrettable that the Opposition could not waste an opportunity to engage in the point scoring rather than problem solving that is their ordre du jour. How sad, too, that their memories are so short—David Maxwell Fyfe, the distinguished Conservative jurist, was one of the architects of the European convention, …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. The draft remedial order implements the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of SW v. the United Kingdom. The order amends section 9(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998 to make damages available in …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech
"I hereby give notice of the Ministry of Justice’s intention to seek a further advance from the Contingencies Fund totalling £1,850,000.
This is the second occasion on which the Ministry of Justice has sought a Contingencies Fund advance for this work. An initial advance of £1,700,000 was announced in a …..." Sarah Sackman - View Speech