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1020608

registered interest
date	06/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for appeals for social security and child support cases.
tabling member constituency	Bridgend
tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
uin	199804
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and it is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service to enable speedier processing of appeals and provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals</a></p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 16:36:10 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon

1020610

registered interest
date	06/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time was for a Social Security and Child Support case to be resolved in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Bridgend
tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
uin	199805
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>Information about the average waiting time of appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) is published at:</p><p>www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 16:34:45 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon

1019813

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Opening Hours
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the effect on HM Courts and Tribunals Service staff will be included in the evaluation of the flexible operating hours pilots at (a) Brentford County Court, and (b) Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198789
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>As part of the Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Reform Programme, the Flexible Operating Hours (FOH) project was set up to look at options to maximise the use of our court rooms by using them at different times of the day, outside of the traditional hours of 10am – 4pm. On 16 November 2018, it was announced that HMCTS will be proceeding with two pilots in the Civil and Family Courts in Brentford County Court and Manchester Civil Justice Centre and a revised Pilots Prospectus was published. Local Implementation Teams in Brentford and Manchester will finalise the pilot designs and start dates, which are likely to be in Spring 2019.</p><p> </p><p>A key objective of the FOH pilots is to understand the impacts of FOH for all court users, including HMCTS staff. An Evaluation Advisory Group has been established to ensure a balanced and comprehensive assessment of pilot activity by independent assessors. Consultation with trade unions will take place under separate arrangements in recognition of the need to consider FOH in the context of wider organisational changes affecting HMCTS staff.</p><p> </p><p>In Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the total number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff is 205 with 29.5 FTE at Band A to D, 146 FTE at Band E and 29.5 FTE at Band F. In Brentford County Court, the total number of FTE staff is 15.5 with 1 FTE at Band C, 2 FTE at Band D, 11 FTE at Band E and 1.5 FTE at Band F. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 0.5. We are committed to ensuring that courts and tribunals have adequate staff to meet operational demands. Staffing requirements for the FOH pilots will be considered by the Local Implementation Teams.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 198790 198791 198792 question first answered 11/12/2018 12:17:34 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019815

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Opening Hours
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which trade unions have been included on the Evaluation Advisory Group for the flexible operating hours pilots at (a) Brentford County Court, and (b) Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198790
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>As part of the Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Reform Programme, the Flexible Operating Hours (FOH) project was set up to look at options to maximise the use of our court rooms by using them at different times of the day, outside of the traditional hours of 10am – 4pm. On 16 November 2018, it was announced that HMCTS will be proceeding with two pilots in the Civil and Family Courts in Brentford County Court and Manchester Civil Justice Centre and a revised Pilots Prospectus was published. Local Implementation Teams in Brentford and Manchester will finalise the pilot designs and start dates, which are likely to be in Spring 2019.</p><p> </p><p>A key objective of the FOH pilots is to understand the impacts of FOH for all court users, including HMCTS staff. An Evaluation Advisory Group has been established to ensure a balanced and comprehensive assessment of pilot activity by independent assessors. Consultation with trade unions will take place under separate arrangements in recognition of the need to consider FOH in the context of wider organisational changes affecting HMCTS staff.</p><p> </p><p>In Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the total number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff is 205 with 29.5 FTE at Band A to D, 146 FTE at Band E and 29.5 FTE at Band F. In Brentford County Court, the total number of FTE staff is 15.5 with 1 FTE at Band C, 2 FTE at Band D, 11 FTE at Band E and 1.5 FTE at Band F. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 0.5. We are committed to ensuring that courts and tribunals have adequate staff to meet operational demands. Staffing requirements for the FOH pilots will be considered by the Local Implementation Teams.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 198789 198791 198792 question first answered 11/12/2018 12:17:34 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019817

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many FTE staff are employed at each grade at (a) Brentford County Court, and (b) Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198791
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>As part of the Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Reform Programme, the Flexible Operating Hours (FOH) project was set up to look at options to maximise the use of our court rooms by using them at different times of the day, outside of the traditional hours of 10am – 4pm. On 16 November 2018, it was announced that HMCTS will be proceeding with two pilots in the Civil and Family Courts in Brentford County Court and Manchester Civil Justice Centre and a revised Pilots Prospectus was published. Local Implementation Teams in Brentford and Manchester will finalise the pilot designs and start dates, which are likely to be in Spring 2019.</p><p> </p><p>A key objective of the FOH pilots is to understand the impacts of FOH for all court users, including HMCTS staff. An Evaluation Advisory Group has been established to ensure a balanced and comprehensive assessment of pilot activity by independent assessors. Consultation with trade unions will take place under separate arrangements in recognition of the need to consider FOH in the context of wider organisational changes affecting HMCTS staff.</p><p> </p><p>In Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the total number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff is 205 with 29.5 FTE at Band A to D, 146 FTE at Band E and 29.5 FTE at Band F. In Brentford County Court, the total number of FTE staff is 15.5 with 1 FTE at Band C, 2 FTE at Band D, 11 FTE at Band E and 1.5 FTE at Band F. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 0.5. We are committed to ensuring that courts and tribunals have adequate staff to meet operational demands. Staffing requirements for the FOH pilots will be considered by the Local Implementation Teams.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 198789 198790 198792 question first answered 11/12/2018 12:17:34 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019819

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Opening Hours
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 minimum staffing levels required for the flexible operating hours pilots to be undertaken at (a) Brentford County Court, and (b) Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198792
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>As part of the Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Reform Programme, the Flexible Operating Hours (FOH) project was set up to look at options to maximise the use of our court rooms by using them at different times of the day, outside of the traditional hours of 10am – 4pm. On 16 November 2018, it was announced that HMCTS will be proceeding with two pilots in the Civil and Family Courts in Brentford County Court and Manchester Civil Justice Centre and a revised Pilots Prospectus was published. Local Implementation Teams in Brentford and Manchester will finalise the pilot designs and start dates, which are likely to be in Spring 2019.</p><p> </p><p>A key objective of the FOH pilots is to understand the impacts of FOH for all court users, including HMCTS staff. An Evaluation Advisory Group has been established to ensure a balanced and comprehensive assessment of pilot activity by independent assessors. Consultation with trade unions will take place under separate arrangements in recognition of the need to consider FOH in the context of wider organisational changes affecting HMCTS staff.</p><p> </p><p>In Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the total number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff is 205 with 29.5 FTE at Band A to D, 146 FTE at Band E and 29.5 FTE at Band F. In Brentford County Court, the total number of FTE staff is 15.5 with 1 FTE at Band C, 2 FTE at Band D, 11 FTE at Band E and 1.5 FTE at Band F. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 0.5. We are committed to ensuring that courts and tribunals have adequate staff to meet operational demands. Staffing requirements for the FOH pilots will be considered by the Local Implementation Teams.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 198789 198790 198791 question first answered 11/12/2018 12:17:35 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019832

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Fines
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) court fines and (b) surcharges remain uncollected; and what steps he is taking to increase the rate of collection for those penalties.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198793
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>We are not able to provide information on the proportion of the original fines and victim surcharge that remains outstanding for without incurring disproportionate cost. In order to extract this information we would need to conduct a manual search of all current financial penalty accounts within our fines database. Figures for the total amount of outstanding fines are published and can be found here</p><p> </p><ul><li><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/727387/HMCTS_Trust_Statement_2017-18_v16_web.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/727387/HMCTS_Trust_Statement_2017-18_v16_web.pdf</a></li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and clamping down on fine defaulters is a continued priority nationwide. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay. Money can be deducted from an offender's earnings or from benefits if they are unemployed. Other ‘upfront’ compliance actions include, increased use of telephone and text message chasing and use of tracing tools. Warrants can be issued instructing approved enforcement agents to seize and sell goods belonging to the offender. Ultimately an offender can be imprisoned for non-payment of their fine.</p><p> </p><p>Targeted initiatives to improve enforcement of financial penalties include the recent historic debt project. This project which commenced in September 2016 resulted in the re-working of accounts which had previously been administratively cancelled. As of November 2018, £34.3 million has been collected as a result of this project. Lessons learnt from the Project have been incorporated into business as usual processes within NCES.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 12:23:15 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019834

registered interest
date	04/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Consultants
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service is expecting to spend from the public purse on that service's change management consultancy contracts.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	198794
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>The HMCTS change management consultancy contract is with pwc, who provide a delivery partner service to support our reform programme. Overall, we are scheduled to spend up to £30 million with them on the contract which was signed in July 2017, and runs for two years, with an option for a one-year extension. It should be noted that this is a strategic partnership contract that replaced several individual contracts and as such gives us access to specialist skills across the change spectrum.</p><p> </p><p>The breakdown of the spend across the financial years can be shown in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>17/18 FY Spend</p></td><td><p>£10,418,186.08</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>18/19 FY Forecast spend</p></td><td><p>£14,808,420.77</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Remaining Contract Cover</p></td><td><p>£4,773,393.15</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>£30,000,000.00</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 12:19:49 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1019355

registered interest
date	03/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: North West
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals to the tribunals service in (a) Salford and Eccles constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West relating to (i) personal independence payment, (ii) employment and support allowance, (iii) income support, (iv) jobseeker's allowance, (v) tax credits and (vi) universal credit were successful in the most recent period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Salford and Eccles
tabling member printed	Rebecca Long Bailey
uin	198294
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals - including (i) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and (ii) Employment Support Allowance (ESA) - to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:</p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Latest figures (to June 2018) indicate that since PIP was introduced, 3.5 million decisions have been made, and of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals. For ESA, 3.5m ESA (post Work Capability Assessment) decisions have been made between April 2014 and March 2018 and of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals.</p><p> </p><p>HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service does not record data based on constituencies. SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of PIP and ESA appeals for hearing venues covering (a) Salford and Eccles, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West for the period April to June 2018, the latest period for which data are available.</p><p> </p><p>The table below contains the requested information for (iii) Income Support (IS), (iv) Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), (v) Tax Credits and (vi) Universal Credit (UC):</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"><p><strong>Proportion<sup>1</sup> of appeals decided in favour of the appellant for the period April to June 2018 (the latest period for which data are available)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>IS</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>JSA</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Tax Credits<sup>2</sup></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>UC</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Manchester<sup>3</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>83%</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>~</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Greater Manchester<sup>4</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>58%</p></td><td><p>~</p></td><td><p>24%</p></td><td><p>46%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>North West</strong></p></td><td><p>44%</p></td><td><p>44%</p></td><td><p>30%</p></td><td><p>53%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><ol><li>Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the appellant at a tribunal hearing, as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal hearing.</li><li>Includes Working Family Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Working Tax Credit.</li><li>Appeals for those living in the Salford and Eccles constituency are heard in Manchester venues.</li><li>Greater Manchester includes the venues: Manchester, Stockport, Rochdale and Wigan.</li></ol><p>~ Equates to a value fewer than five.</p><p>Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-</p><p>scale case management system and are the best data that are available.</p><p>These data may differ slightly from those in the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 12:10:15 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4396 label Biography information for Rebecca Long Bailey

1019494

registered interest
date	03/12/2018
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Child Arrangements Orders: Grandparents
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals in relation to access rights to grandchildren by grandparents; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Luton North
tabling member printed	Kelvin Hopkins
uin	198136
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>The Government is keen to take steps wherever possible to reduce conflict within families when relationships come to an end. In that context, the Government’s current priority is to reform the law on the process for obtaining a divorce.</p><p> </p><p>I am separately considering what measures Government could take to help more grandchildren maintain contact with grandparents following parental separation and will make an announcement about the Government’s plans in due course.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/12/2018 13:15:42 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	2 label Biography information for Kelvin Hopkins