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1697491

registered interest
date	20/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Women's Centres: Swansea
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on establishment of the residential women’s centre in Swansea.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	19654
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>Planning approval for the Residential Women’s Centre at the Trehafod site in Cockett, Swansea, was granted by the Welsh Government’s Planning Environment Decisions Wales in August 2023, following an appeal by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Due to delays and uncertainty in securing this planning approval, the MoJ has a number of ongoing steps to re-mobilise the project and continues to work closely with partners in Wales.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 25/03/2024 15:24:20 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1697533

registered interest
date	20/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the number of proposed new prison places that will be rapid deployment cells.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	19628
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>We are delivering 20,000 prison places, the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era. As part of this, and alongside further opportunities to optimise capacity in the estate, the estimated number of proposed new prison places that will be Rapid Deployment Cells is c.1,800. Delivery of the first c.1000 began last year, with c.630 already delivered across 12 sites.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 25/03/2024 16:20:51 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1697549

registered interest
date	20/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Royal Commissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on establishing a Royal Commission on the criminal justice process.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	19696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>Although we recognise the opportunity that a Royal Commission could present to look at structural questions in the criminal justice system, we think it is right that, following the pandemic and the Criminal Bar Association’s disruptive action, we focus on delivering priority measures to speed up justice for victims and improve the justice system over the coming months.</p><p>We continue to keep issues in the wider criminal justice system under review.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 25/03/2024 17:17:57 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1697596

registered interest
date	20/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Wetherby Young Offender Institution
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of girls aged under the age of 15 (a) have been placed in the last 12 months and (b) are expected to be placed within the next 12 months at the Wetherby and Keppel Young Offender Institution.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham East
tabling member printed	Janet Daby
uin	19717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2024 answer text <p>No girls under 15 have been placed at HMYOI Wetherby in the last 12 months. We do not expect to make any such placement in the next 12 months.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 25/03/2024 15:26:41 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	4698 label Biography information for Janet Daby

1697732

registered interest
date	20/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts
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 tackle the backlog in the courts.
tabling member constituency	Broadland
tabling member printed	Jerome Mayhew
uin	902212
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2024 answer text <p>We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseloads across our courts and tribunals and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.</p><p> </p><p>Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ court, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 353,900 at the end of September 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly. To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we invested £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of more magistrates. We aim to recruit 2,000 new magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.</p><p> </p><p>At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. Last financial year we sat over 100,000 days and this financial year, we plan to deliver around 107,000 sitting days and recruit more than 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions. Judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases, with disposals up by 9% during Q3 in 2023 compared to Q4 in 2022 (25,700 compared to 23,700).</p><p>We are also investing in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025. We have also continued the use of 20 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2024/25 financial year, to allow courts to work at full capacity.</p><p> </p><p>In the Family Court, we are working with the Department for Education and other partners on the Family Justice Board to tackle the longest running cases and increase the proportion of public law cases that conclude within the 26-week timeline. The Department for Education are also investing an extra £10m to develop new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law proceedings.</p><p>We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55m to improve productivity, support earlier resolution of family disputes and reduce the number of cases coming to court. This includes creating a digital advice tool for separating couples, piloting early legal advice and supporting the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model. We are also investing up to £23.6m in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of March 2024, over 26,000 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.</p><p> </p><p>With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have launched the biggest ever judicial recruitment drive for District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation. The requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service will start this spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.</p><p>With regards to tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have helped the Tribunal to manage its caseload which remains below its pandemic peak.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 26/03/2024 17:15:12 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4739 label Biography information for Jerome Mayhew

1697048

registered interest
date	19/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: Pension Rights
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pre-Fresh Start prison officers with reserved pension rights remain in service.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	19322
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>Currently there are 11 full time and 181 partially retired operational uniform staff who retained Pre-Fresh Start Reserved Rights Terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme. There are also 19 partially retired Operational Managers who retained Pre-Fresh Start terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme at the date of taking their benefits.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 19323 question first answered 22/03/2024 11:56:07 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1697049

registered interest
date	19/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: Pension Rights
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the last pre-Fresh Start prison officer with reserved pension rights retired from service.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	19323
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>Currently there are 11 full time and 181 partially retired operational uniform staff who retained Pre-Fresh Start Reserved Rights Terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme. There are also 19 partially retired Operational Managers who retained Pre-Fresh Start terms under the legacy PCSPS Classic scheme at the date of taking their benefits.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar grouped question UIN 19322 question first answered 22/03/2024 11:56:07 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1697057

registered interest
date	19/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Civil Proceedings and Family Proceedings: Legal Representation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the document entitled Qualified legal representative appointed by the Court: Statutory guidance, published in July 2022, how many qualified legal representatives have been registered in (a) family and (b) other civil cases since the publication of that guidance.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	19348
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.</p><p>As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.</p><p>Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.</p><p>We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris grouped question UIN 19349 19350 19351 19352 question first answered 22/03/2024 14:43:29 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1697059

registered interest
date	19/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Representation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many cases a qualified legal representative was (a) required and (b) available.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	19349
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.</p><p>As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.</p><p>Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.</p><p>We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris grouped question UIN 19348 19350 19351 19352 question first answered 22/03/2024 14:43:29 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1697060

registered interest
date	19/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Representation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many cases a qualified legal representative was (a) required and (b) not available.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	19350
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.</p><p>As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.</p><p>Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.</p><p>We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris grouped question UIN 19348 19349 19351 19352 question first answered 22/03/2024 14:43:29 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham