Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

453343

registered interest
date	19/02/2016
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that proposed revisions to the sentencing guideline for guilty plea reductions do not lead to a culture of plea bargaining.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	27375
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2016 answer text <p>On 11 February the independent Sentencing Council launched a consultation on a new proposed guideline for reductions in sentence for a guilty plea. This is a consultation, and no decisions have been made. Accepting a plea is a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service. All decisions by the prosecution are made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.</p> answering member constituency Esher and Walton answering member printed Dominic Raab question first answered 25/02/2016 17:35:17 answering member 4007 label Biography information for Dominic Raab
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper

451395

registered interest
date	08/02/2016
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for appeals for benefit sanctions.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	26197
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2016 answer text <p>The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decisions on a range of benefits.</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS does not record data specifically relating to appeals against sanctions imposed by DWP.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In order to increase the capacity of the Tribunal, and therefore speed up the appeals process, HMCTS has recruited extra judges and medical members, increased venue capacity and introduced more efficient processes. This action, coupled with a reduction in appeal receipts, has enabled HMCTS to reduce the overall average length of time to administer appeals from 28 weeks in the period July to September 2014, to 19 weeks for the same period in 2015 (the latest period for which statistics have been published). The median length of time to administer appeals (which will be the experience of the majority of appellants) has reduced from 18 weeks to 14 weeks in the same period.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the length of time taken to administer appeals generally is published by the Ministry of Justice in Tribunal Statistics Quarterly. The most recent report, for the period July to September 2015, published on 10 December 2015, can be viewed at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015</a></p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 15/02/2016 11:41:05 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper

433844

registered interest
date	02/12/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Lancashire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children in (a) Burnley and (b) Lancashire have mothers who are serving prison sentences.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	18466
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2015 answer text <p>The specific information requested is not held. However, the Ministry of Justice has recently published statistics on child dependents of female offenders. These statistics can be located at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/female-offenders-and-child-dependents" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/female-offenders-and-child-dependents</a></p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 10/12/2015 10:40:03 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper

433267

registered interest
date	30/11/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the reduction in the number of legal aid cases taken on by solicitors in the private sector; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the change to legal aid provision on such solicitors take up of such cases.
tabling member constituency	Burnley
tabling member printed	Julie Cooper
uin	18091
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/12/2015 answer text <p>When reform began we had an unsustainably expensive legal aid system - costing more than £2 billion every year. We still have a very generous system, last year we spent £1.6bn on legal aid, around a quarter of the department’s expenditure.</p><br /><p>Statistics on legal aid in England and Wales are published every quarter, presenting the key statistics on workload and expenditure across both the criminal and civil legal aid schemes. The statistics are available via <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics</a>. The vast majority of legal aid work is carried out by solicitors working in the private sector. It is difficult to summarise workloads across the legal aid system meaningfully within a single number because there is no single definition of a case that applies to all of the diverse services being provided, so users of legal aid statistics are best advised to look at trends in workload for each area of legal aid separately.</p><br /><p>For many areas of civil law, the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) led to a reduction of workload for solicitors in areas where legal aidwas reduced.</p><br /><p>LASPO did not change eligibility or scope in relation to criminal legal aid.</p><br /> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 08/12/2015 17:51:33 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	4405 label Biography information for Julie Cooper