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1145076

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes
	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 decrease victim attrition rates in criminal cases of sexual assault and rape.
	tabling member constituency	Harlow
	tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
	uin	287547
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to tackling the unacceptably high victim attrition rates in sexual violence cases. We know that access to counselling and therapeutic support when and where victims most need it increases victim engagement. That is why in March this year we increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas and by extending it from one to three years, it provides greater security and sustainability for the sector to deliver their essential services. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCC’s to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence, as they are best placed to respond to local needs.</p><p> </p><p>Moreover, in the cross-government Victims Strategy, which we published on 10 September 2018, we made a commitment to improve support for all victims of crime, including by increasing the number of Registered Intermediaries, communication experts helping vulnerable victims and witnesses give their best evidence at police interview and at court.</p><p> </p><p>The Government also recognises the importance of understanding the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged. It is vital we grasp this issue, which is the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of response to serious sexual violence and adult rape. We have established a Sub-Group of the CJB to oversee this review and a stakeholder group made up of victim organisations to ensure the inclusion of the victim experience.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 09/09/2019 16:35:05 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon

1145081

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes
	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 support survivors of (a) rape, (b) attempted rape and (c) sexual assault through the process of trial.
	tabling member constituency	Harlow
	tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
	uin	287550
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Serious sexual violence and rape are horrendous crimes. It is essential that victims and survivors of these crimes have access to support when and where they need it most.</p><p>In accordance with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims’ Code), a person is entitled to support if they have suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss, which was directly caused by a criminal offence. They are entitled to access victim support services at any time, whether they have reported a crime or not.</p><p>In March this year the Government increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years to specialist sexual violence and abuse support services across England and Wales. This enables these services to provide advice, support and counselling to victims of these appalling crimes to help them cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. Part of this funding will go towards Independent Sexual Violence Adviser’s to provide impartial advocacy for victims of sexual violence and abuse who have reported to the police or are considering reporting to the police. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCCs to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence.</p><p>Moreover, in the cross-government Victim’s Strategy, which we published on 10 September 2018, we made a commitment to improve support for victims of crime, including by increasing the number of registered Intermediaries, communication experts helping vulnerable victims and witnesses give their best evidence at police interview and at court.</p><p>The Government also recognises the importance of understanding the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged. It is vital that we grasp this issue, which is the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of the Criminal Justice System’s response to serious sexual violence and adult rape. We have established a sub-group of the CJB to oversee this review and continue to engage regularly with specialist stakeholders and victim organisations to ensure that the victim experience is central to our work.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 09/09/2019 16:36:06 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon

1145220

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Prisons
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the courts in England and Wales used prison as a place of safety in each of the last five years.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bradley
	uin	HL17747
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">Prison may be used as a ‘place of safety’ if the court is satisfied that an individual should be kept in custody for his/her own protection. This is set out under the Bail Act 1976.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Specifically, for individuals with serious mental illness, the Mental Health Act 1983 sets out that a person may be remanded in custody for between 7 and 28 days awaiting available treatment and detention in hospital.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on either of the circumstances set out. The decision to remand is taken by the individual sentencing court, and reasons for remand are not recorded centrally.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Government is clear that those suffering from a mental disorder of a nature or degree that warrants treatment and detention in hospital (i.e. a severe mental disorder) should be able to access that treatment as quickly as possible. Our forthcoming response to the independent review of the Mental Health Act will address the recommendation in that context around prison as a ‘place of safety’.</ins><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/09/2019 16:27:17 question first ministerially corrected 26/09/2019 16:46:27 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie previous answer version 135188 answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	452 label Biography information for Lord Bradley

1145221

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prisoners: Females
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women currently in prison are aged (1) under 21, (2) 21–30, (3) 31–35, (4) 36–40, (5) 41–50, (6) 51–60, and (7) over 60, years old.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bradley
	uin	HL17748
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">It is not possible to give figures for the number of sentenced women who did not have a pre-sentence report (PSR), as this would involve a process of matching court record data with probation data and the cost of doing so would be disproportionate.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Regarding the women’s prison population according to age, as at 30 June 2019, the total number of female prisoners was 3,770. The age distribution is shown in the table below:</ins><br /></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Age</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"> </ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Under 21</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">115</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">21-30</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">1,011</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">31-35</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">696</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">36-40</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">690</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">41-50</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">784</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">51-60</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">366</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Over 60</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">108</ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member</del></p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/09/2019 16:27:41 question first ministerially corrected 26/09/2019 16:47:00 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie previous answer version 135181 answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	452 label Biography information for Lord Bradley

1144087

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Summary Offences
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of defendants sent summary offence notices under the single justice procedure fail to enter a plea; what is their assessment of the reasons for the level of such failures; and what steps they are taking to address that issue.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL17575
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Current response rates vary dependant on the individual prosecutors, with an average of 72% of defendants failing to enter a plea. Whilst an individual is at liberty to not enter a plea without reason, Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service is actively working with prosecution authorities and our partners in the Criminal Justice System to understand the reasons why defendents do not respond and to improve engagement rates.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/09/2019 16:28:07 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1144105

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Domestic Abuse: Sentencing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that victims of domestic violence, following the sentencing of an offender, receive (1) the precise sentence outcome, (2) accurate and relevant information about the possible impact of a sentence, and (3) the date of an offenders bail and prison release, to ensure that safeguarding mechanisms can be put in place; and what plans they have to enable victims of such violence to appeal sentencing decisions.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Brady
	uin	HL17593
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Under the Code of Practice for Victim’s of Crime, all victims have the right to be notified of the offender’s sentence and receive a short explanation about the meaning and effect of the sentence. We committed in the Victims Strategy published last year to review the process for informing victims of offenders’ sentences and what they mean and we are currently consulting on proposals for revising the code, which will be followed by a consultation on a draft revised code.</p><p> </p><p>The statutory National Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme is available to victims of violent and sexual offences, where the offender receives a sentence of 12 months or more. The Scheme provides victims with information and advice about the criminal justice process – including explaining the sentence to them and ensuring that they are informed of the offender’s release.</p><p> </p><p>In such cases, victims also have the statutory right to request conditions that can be attached to the offender's release licence. These can include a no contact condition, and an exclusion zone covering areas where the victim lives, works, or travels too frequently. The offender risks being recalled to prison should they breach any of their licence conditions.</p><p> </p><p>Offenders who have committed an eligible sexual or violent offence and sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment will be managed under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Under MAPPA, the Prison, Probation and Police Services are required to work together to assess and manage the risks presented by such offenders. Thus, the MAPPA plan for managing the risk to such offenders must include measures to protect previous victims from further harm.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) develop strategies to help and protect domestic abuse victims at high risk of murder or serious harm. Agencies including the Police, providers of probation services, health and child protection, as well as Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, share information and develop actions to protect the victim.</p><p> </p><p>In respect of appealing sentencing decisions, the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme enables anyone, including victims, the ability to ask the Attorney General to consider referring sentences for certain offences which he believes to be unduly lenient, to the Court of Appeal. The offences covered by the scheme are indictable only offences that are heard in the Crown Court, and certain triable either way offences when heard in the Crown Court. The scheme has a statutory 28-day time limit for referrals to be made. The scheme ensures there is a route for victims, their families, and the public, to question sentences imposed by the court for certain cases.</p><p> </p><p>If a case is referred, it will be a matter for the Court of Appeal to determine whether the sentence should remain as it is, be increased, or whether guidance should be issued for future cases.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/09/2019 16:34:20 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4339 label Biography information for Baroness Brady

1144106

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Mental Capacity
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to amend the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice to comply with the judgment in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v. MM case so that there is no longer a presumption that welfare deputyship by relatives should be restricted to people with learning disabilities and autism.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Browning
	uin	HL17594
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The statutory Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Code of Practice provides practical guidance on the operation of the MCA, including on when the Court of Protection may appoint a deputy to make decisions on behalf of and in the best interests of someone who lacks capacity to make those decisions. The Code is currently under review, to establish the extent to which it should be revised to reflect changes in case law and lessons learned through practical use of the code since its publication in 2007. We sought input from a range of interested stakeholders through a call for evidence in spring 2019 and propose to consult on a revised Code in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/09/2019 16:28:42 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	236 label Biography information for Baroness Browning

1144123

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Solicitors: Assessments
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effectiveness of the Solicitors' Qualifying Examination in inculcating and testing legal writing skills.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Deech
	uin	HL17611
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>As the legal profession in England and Wales, and the bodies that regulate it, are independent from government, we have not made any assessment of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. As set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, it will be a matter for the Legal Services Board to determine whether to approve proposals for changes to the qualification arrangements for solicitors brought forward by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie grouped question UIN HL17612 question first answered 09/09/2019 16:31:27 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	3756 label Biography information for Baroness Deech

1144124

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Solicitors: Assessments
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effectiveness of exclusively multiple choice testing in the Solicitors' Qualifying Examination as a way of maintaining standards of legal service to consumers.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Deech
	uin	HL17612
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>As the legal profession in England and Wales, and the bodies that regulate it, are independent from government, we have not made any assessment of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. As set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, it will be a matter for the Legal Services Board to determine whether to approve proposals for changes to the qualification arrangements for solicitors brought forward by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie grouped question UIN HL17611 question first answered 09/09/2019 16:31:27 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	3756 label Biography information for Baroness Deech

1144313

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Judiciary: Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost is to his Department of the administration of the Judicial Pensions Scheme by Xafinity Punter Southall in each year for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds East
	tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
	uin	286304
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The annual cost to the department of the administration of the Judicial Pensions Scheme by Xafinity Punter Southall for the last five financial years is set out in the table below.</p><p>The reason for the lower level of spend in 2014-15 was that the contract started in January 2015.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Cost to MOJ</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>£208,964.40</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>£633,059.58</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>£906,178.17</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>£ 989,518.51</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>£ 701,072.02</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 09/09/2019 16:31:51 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon