Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Baldry Excerpts
Tuesday 12th November 2013

(10 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jeremy Wright Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright)
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The right hon. Gentleman will know, because the matter came up during last night’s debate, that the national probation service will carry out a risk assessment for all short-sentence prisoners. It will then decide whether to retain them because they are high-risk offenders or to pass them to community rehabilitation companies. So I cannot give him a figure, because each case will involve a judgment for the national probation service.

Tony Baldry Portrait Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
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T6. Are the Lord Chancellor’s proposed reforms on judicial review intended to reassert the primacy of Parliament over the courts, or to save money, or both?

Lord Grayling Portrait Chris Grayling
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First and foremost, those reforms are about ensuring that the justice system in this country is there for those who need it, and not used for purposes other than genuine redress. My view is that judicial review is being used at the moment as a delaying tactic and as a PR exercise. It does indeed undermine the will of Parliament and the will of the Executive, and it costs the taxpayer money. It should be used only when it is appropriate to do so, and not for trivialities.