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1142738

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Translation Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 275723 on translation services, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in expenditure between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	284295
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>Spend on language services increased in October 2016 as a result of an intentional move by the Ministry of Justice to increase the quality of the services. A new set of contracts commenced in 2016 which included various improvements based on independent recommendations made about the previous contract. These changes included a more robust performance management regime, improved data and the implementation of a new quality assurance service.</p><p> </p><p>Spend on Language Services is expected to fluctuate due to the nature of the contracts being demand led.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 05/09/2019 14:21:42 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1142810

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
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 the Government is taking to activate the working group established by the then Lord Chief Justice and then Lord Chancellor in January 2016 to implement the problem-solving court model in England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Swansea East
tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
uin	284209
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Problem-Solving Courts Working Group was asked to advise on the feasibility of pilot models and its planned work did not include an implementation stage. The group concluded the workstreams set out in its published terms of reference and has not been reconvened.</p><p> </p><p>There remain barriers to testing or applying the problem-solving courts’ approach in a meaningful way, including upfront resource implications and the need for primary legislation to implement some of the models being proposed, as well as gaps in evidence. However, we are testing and applying “problem-solving approaches”, for example in the testbed sites for on the community sentence treatment requirement protocol and through our support for models applied in Family Drug and Alcohol Courts.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton grouped question UIN 284931 question first answered 09/09/2019 16:27:14 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris

1142822

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Terrorism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what legal aid is available to the families of victims of terrorist attacks.
tabling member constituency	Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
tabling member printed	Lesley Laird
uin	284262
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>In England and Wales, legal aid can be provided if the matter or issue in question is within scope of the legal aid scheme, as defined in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).</p><p> </p><p>Legal aid is available for advice and assistance for all inquests, subject to a means and merits test. Legal aid funding for legal representation for a family, during an inquest hearing, is not in scope of LASPO. However, families are supported by coroners who can ask questions on their behalf to help them get the answers they need and we are developing a range of measures to improve this service further.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises that for certain inquests, bereaved people may require representation; legal aid may therefore be available, through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, if certain criteria are met:</p><p> </p><p>(a) if a failure to provide such representation would breach, or likely risk a breach of, the government’s obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, usually Article 2; or</p><p>(b) where the Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC) makes a determination that there is a ‘wider public interest’ in legal representation being granted.</p><p> </p><p>All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 09/09/2019 15:02:44 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4660 label Biography information for Lesley Laird

1143226

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Terrorism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of automatically providing legal aid funding for (a) coroner's inquests and (b) other legal proceedings for British citizens who are victims of terrorist attacks.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	284500
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Legal aid can be provided if the matter or issue in question is within scope of the legal aid scheme, as defined in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).</p><p> </p><p>Legal aid is available for advice and assistance for all inquests, subject to a means and merits test. Legal aid funding for legal representation for a family, during an inquest hearing, is not in scope of LASPO. However, families are supported by coroners who can ask questions on their behalf to help them get the answers they need and we are developing a range of measures to improve this service further.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises that for certain inquests, bereaved people may require representation; legal aid may therefore be available, through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, if certain criteria are met:</p><p> </p><p>(a) if a failure to provide such representation would breach, or likely risk a breach of, the government’s obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights; or</p><p>(b) where the Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC) makes a determination that there is a ‘wider public interest’ in legal representation being granted.</p><p> </p><p>All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 09/09/2019 15:36:40 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1143233

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Marriage
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much is allocated to be spent from the public purse on conducting the Law Commission's review of the law on how and where people can marry in England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Morley and Outwood
tabling member printed	Andrea Jenkyns
uin	284677
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The cost of the project to review the law on weddings and provide recommendations for a simple, fair and consistent system which gives couples choice in to marry in a way that is meaningful to them will be approximately £400,000.</p><p> </p><p>This cost is for the resource for two years of a project team made up of one full-time lawyer, one full-time research assistant, a proportion of the time of a team manager and some travel, publication and translation costs (totalling approximately £150,000 per year) plus the cost of engaging a specialist academic (£50,000 per year).</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 05/09/2019 13:44:17 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4490 label Biography information for Dame Andrea Jenkyns

1143267

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Marriage: Humanism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to grant legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Darren Jones
uin	284741
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Law Commission review that the Government announced this June is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 09/09/2019 15:07:35 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1143365

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Children: Custody
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he is taking to ensure the gender of a parent is not considered as a factor in custody cases.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	284885
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The legislative framework which governs family law proceedings about a child’s upbringing is gender neutral and focused on the welfare of the child involved.</p><p>The court is legally required to presume that the involvement of a parent in the life of the child will further that child’s welfare, unless there is evidence to the contrary. The nature of any parental involvement will be determined by the court based on all the available evidence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 09/09/2019 15:15:27 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1143368

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Children: Custody
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure that grandparents are ensured access to their grandchildren in custody cases.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	284831
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Grandparents who are experiencing difficulties in spending time with their grandchildren following parental separation can seek the permission of the family court to apply for a child arrangements order. Experience suggests that grandparents would not usually experience any difficulty where their application is motivated by genuine concern for the welfare of the child.</p><p> </p><p>The law does not provide any absolute right for a grandparent, or indeed a parent, to be involved in a child’s life because it is the child’s welfare which is paramount in all court decisions about who a child lives with or spends time with. The court can, however, direct the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) to prepare a welfare report into the child’s circumstances, including the beneficial involvement in their life of significant adults such as grandparents.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 09/09/2019 15:39:35 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1143415

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
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, whether the working group established by the then Lord Chief Justice and then Lord Chancellor in January 2016 on problem solving courts has been stood down and its membership retired.
tabling member constituency	Swansea East
tabling member printed	Carolyn Harris
uin	284931
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Problem-Solving Courts Working Group was asked to advise on the feasibility of pilot models and its planned work did not include an implementation stage. The group concluded the workstreams set out in its published terms of reference and has not been reconvened.</p><p> </p><p>There remain barriers to testing or applying the problem-solving courts’ approach in a meaningful way, including upfront resource implications and the need for primary legislation to implement some of the models being proposed, as well as gaps in evidence. However, we are testing and applying “problem-solving approaches”, for example in the testbed sites for on the community sentence treatment requirement protocol and through our support for models applied in Family Drug and Alcohol Courts.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton grouped question UIN 284209 question first answered 09/09/2019 16:27:14 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4480 label Biography information for Carolyn Harris

1143544

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Marriage: Humanism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of immediately laying an order under Section 14 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 to give legal recognition to humanist marriages rather than waiting for the outcome of the Law Commission’s review into that matter.
tabling member constituency	Morley and Outwood
tabling member printed	Andrea Jenkyns
uin	284951
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The Law Commission review that the Government announced this June is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will decide on provision on the basis of the Law Commission’s recommendations.</p><p> </p><p>Assessment of the potential merits of provision for non-religious belief marriages can be found in the consultation paper and response published by a previous Government in 2014 and available at justice.gov.uk.</p><p> </p><p>Exercising the power in section 14 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 to provide for legally binding non-religious belief marriage, including humanist marriage, would provide a freedom to marry in a way that would not be available to many other people who wish to marry. That is why the Government asked the Law Commission to carry out a fundamental review of the law on how and where couples can marry. It is a law that has been added to over several centuries without any systematic reform.</p> answering member constituency Aldridge-Brownhills answering member printed Wendy Morton question first answered 05/09/2019 14:18:35 answering member 4358 label Biography information for Wendy Morton
tabling member	4490 label Biography information for Dame Andrea Jenkyns