Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answers of (a) 23 July 2024 to Question 612 and (b) 4 November 2024 to Question 11600 on Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, when section 31 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will come into force.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Now that the Data (Use and Access) Act has passed through Parliament, we are progressing work to implement this measure.
We will write to the Member shortly to outline our plan and timescale for implementation.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders who were released under the early release scheme were returned to prison following an arrest for (a) Intentional strangulation, (b) criminal damage, (c) common assault, (d) actual bodily harm, (e) grievous bodily harm, (f) violence against the person, (g) threats to kill, (h) stalking, (i) rape, (j) sexual assault and (k) harassment in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We have had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on arrests and to provide it would result in a disproportionate cost.
We have published SDS40 release data alongside the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2024 to Question 612 on Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, and the Answer of 4th November 2024 to Question 11600 on Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, when section 31 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will come into force.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As part of implementation considerations, we have included a provision in the Data (Use and Access) Bill to ensure that section 31 extends UK-wide, given the nature of the UK’s data protection framework. This Bill has finished Commons committee stage and will be entering report stage. Subject to passage of the Bill, we will update on implementation in due course.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2024 to Question 612 on Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, when section 31 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will come into force.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Appropriate protections for victims of harassment or stalking are vital. We are carefully considering implementation of section 31 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 to ensure data and safeguarding protections are built into the process. As part of this consideration, we have included a provision in the Data (Use and Access) Bill to ensure that section 31 extends UK-wide, given the nature of the UK’s data protection framework.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children for whom no living parent was identified were allocated a legal guardian in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of special guardianship orders, however, information held centrally does not include whether the application was granted due to the child having no living parent. This information may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what her planned timetable is for bringing section 31 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 into force.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Appropriate protections for victims of harassment or stalking are vital. We are carefully considering the measures within the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 and will provide an update on plans for implementation in due course.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 183405 on Prosecutions, how many people were prosecuted under the single justice procedure in each month of 2023 broken down by offence; and what the plea rates were for offences charged under the single justice procedure in each month of 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer
Data showing the number of defendants dealt with via single justice procedures (SJP) notices at the magistrates’ courts by plea and offence in England and Wales from January to September 2023 (latest available) can be found in the attached table. Data for October-December will not be available until the March publication.
The data supplied is a subset of published information relating to the timeliness of defendants dealt with by SJP notice which is available in Table T1 of the Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly, latest to September 2023.
The SJP is a more proportionate way of dealing with straightforward, uncontested, summary-only non-imprisonable offences. It allows those who plead guilty to low-level, non-imprisonable crimes to resolve their case without going to court, either online or in writing. Defendants always have the option of going to court, even when they plead guilty. Magistrates can choose to hear such cases in open court where they feel the case is more complex and would benefit from an open court hearing.
Many cases disposed of through the SJP process are prosecuted by third-party agencies, for example TV Licensing, DVLA, local authorities and transport authorities, which reflects the nature of the offences which fall within the SJP criteria. Prosecutors using this method of initiating proceedings have developed procedures for identifying those who may need additional support. Support channels are also available to users who require clarification ranging from web chat or telephone assistance to face-to-face assistance.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether is Department plan to take steps to enable registrars to make a declaration of parentage on a birth certificate where one parent is deceased.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Government understands that it must be difficult for a surviving parent or family in these circumstances however there are no plans to take steps to enable registrars to make a declaration of parentage on a birth certificate where one parent is deceased.
In the unfortunate circumstance of the death of a parent before the birth of a child, a person can apply for a declaration of parentage to the High Court or the family court. The court will decide whether to make a declaration that a person named in the application was the parent of the child. If such a declaration is made, the court will inform the Registrar General, who is then responsible for authorising the re-registration of the birth to include the name of the deceased parent.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) Regulations 2017 and (b) the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 are in scope of Clause 1 of the Retained EU Law Bill through being made or operated immediately before the implementation period completion day, for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2)(a) of the European Communities Act (implementation of EU obligations etc).
Answered by Mike Freer
The Secretary of State for Justice is presently considering implications of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill for the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) Regulations 2017 and the Judicial Pensions (Fee-Paid Judges) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, and the options available to him. In that context, the Secretary of State is mindful of the historic pension entitlements of fee-paid judges.
For service after 31 March 2022, fee-paid judges have accrued pension entitlements in the new JPS22 Pension Scheme which is unaffected by the Bill.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has plans to (a) reform, (b) revoke or (c) retain the Special Measures for Child Witnesses (Sexual Offences) Regulations 2013.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Secretary of State will review this and other pieces of Retained EU Law for which the Ministry of Justice is responsible and decide whether they should remain on the statute book, and if so whether they should in due course be amended using one of the powers in the Retained EU Law Bill, or whether they should be left to sunset. However, protecting child victims is a priority for this government and we will ensure that we consider the current framework of rights and protections very carefully.