Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many positions in her Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not routinely collate information on specific words and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.
Information on spending and staffing can be found in the Department’s annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Andrew Cooper (Labour - Mid Cheshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making actual bodily harm an excluded offence under SDS40 when being served concurrently with sexual or domestic abuse offences.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Offenders’ eligibility for Standard Determinate Sentences (SDS40) is determined by each specific sentence. Release provisions for different sentence types and length are fixed by law. This change has amended the automatic release point for standard determinate sentences that are not excluded. This means that by law, an offender serving multiple sentences could have a mixture of some sentences that are eligible for the 40% release point and others that are not. Someone serving a sentence for an excluded offence will not see their custodial time for that sentence reduced.
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm is excluded where the sentence is four years or more. Other offences have also been excluded from the change, including sex offences irrespective of sentence length; other serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security.
Offenders who are eligible for release at the 40% point are subject to a robust risk assessment to manage them safely in the community. This will include checks with partners from other agencies, such as the police. Once released, offenders will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been release at a 50% automatic release point, for example to prohibit the offender from having contact with named persons, such as the victim or victim’s family, or to impose exclusion zones to prevent the offender from going to specified places.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of crime do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of rape do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog in court cases.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are committed to reducing the outstanding caseloads across jurisdictions and bringing down waiting times to ensure cases move through our system without delay.
Criminal courts
Over 90% of criminal cases are dealt with at the magistrates’ courts where the outstanding caseload remains well below its peak during the pandemic. We continue to invest in the recruitment of more magistrates, aiming to recruit 2,000 new and diverse magistrates this year and similar numbers of each in the coming years.
The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. The outstanding caseload has increased in recent years as more cases come before our criminal courts. To address this, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days at the Crown Court this financial year, alongside considering further measures to speed up justice.
Family courts
In March this year the Family Justice Board agreed clear and measurable priorities for the family justice system, with a clear focus on closing the longest running cases and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluding within the 26-week statutory timeline.
To deliver this, we plan to sit 102,500 days in the family court this financial year and are investing £10m to develop, test and evaluate new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law cases.
We are also working to reduce the number of private law cases coming to court by supporting earlier resolution of family disputes. As of August 2024, over 32,000 separating parents have accessed the Family Mediation Voucher scheme, which provides £500 towards the cost of mediation, sparing many families from lengthy courtroom battles.
The outstanding caseload for public and private family law was 11,162 and 42,255 respectively (HMCTS MI published 8 August 2024). This is a reduction when compared to the same period last year, where there were 11,297 outstanding public law cases and 45,938 private law cases. (HMCTS MI published 11 July 2024).
Civil courts and tribunals
The civil courts have been under significant pressure in recent years. This has come from increased volumes and judicial capacity being both limited and often shared with the family jurisdiction.
It is important to note, though, that timeliness is not the sole indicator of performance in the civil justice system, and speedy resolution is not necessarily the best or most feasible justice outcome for every kind of case; some claims simply take time to resolve.
This Government is working to support people to resolve their civil disputes as swiftly and effectively as possible. We are doing this by promoting, where appropriate, simpler, less costly, more consensual methods of dispute resolution, including mediation. This has the potential to significantly reduce the burden on the court system and deliver better outcomes for parties to disputes and society.
As part of HMCTS Reform, 94% of civil court services are, or are becoming, available online.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will introduce legal aid for tenants for (a) housing repair issues and (b) enforcing legal housing rights.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available for those facing homelessness, and disrepair claims (when there is a serious risk of illness or injury) subject to a financial means test. Tenants in this situation should contact the Civil Legal Aid telephone helpline for assistance.
Legal aid is available for anyone facing the loss of their home through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS). HLPAS provides free early legal advice on housing, debt, council tax reduction and welfare benefits problems from the moment someone is faced with losing their home.
HLPAS also provides free legal advice and representation from a duty solicitor on the day of their court hearing. Where no face-to-face coverage is available, users can access remote early legal advice through HLPAS providers in other areas or via the Civil Legal Aid helpline or by going to https://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk.
There is no means or merits test for this service.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Bristol (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue the Review of Civil Legal Aid; and if so, when they intend to publish a final report.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector and are keen to work closely with practitioners and their representative bodies to look at how best we can address this.
We want to understand the different ways in which the justice system can be improved and will be carefully considering our options on the way forward. This includes considering the evidence on civil legal aid gathered over the past year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Bristol (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase fees payable for (1) barristers, and (2) solicitors, undertaking legal aid cases.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We want to understand the different ways in which the justice system can be improved and will be carefully considering our options on the way forward, including with regards to legal aid. We acknowledge that the sustainability of the profession is central to a successful legal aid system.
We will carefully consider the evidence including, for example, information gathered as part of the Review of Civil Legal Aid.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding for victims of crime is provided to Police and Crime Commissioners in a timely fashion after 31 March 2025.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to supporting victims of crime. The Ministry of Justice provides annual grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime. Supporting victims to cope is essential in helping them move forwards following the impact of the crime.
Funding after March 2025 will be agreed through the next Spending Review process, which we cannot pre-empt. We appreciate the importance of notifying PCCs and providers about future funding as early as possible in order to effectively commission, plan and deliver services.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Victims Grant will continue to be given to Police and Crime Commissioners.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to supporting victims of crime. The Ministry of Justice provides annual grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime. Supporting victims to cope is essential in helping them move forwards following the impact of the crime.
Funding after March 2025 will be agreed through the next Spending Review process, which we cannot pre-empt. We appreciate the importance of notifying PCCs and providers about future funding as early as possible in order to effectively commission, plan and deliver services.