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1126889

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
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, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2019 to Question 231973 on HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Consultants, for what reason the figure for the total spend by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service on consultancy in 2016-17 provided in that Answer differs from the total figure for that expenditure published on page 47 of the HM Courts & Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	254791
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The previous parliamentary question 231973 asked for total spend on consultancy in 2016-17, so the figures provided were extracted from the Bravo contract system which reports all spend that has been invoiced during the reporting period.</p><p> </p><p>HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 are prepared on an accruals basis - this is when the cost is recognised within the relevant period in which the department derives the benefit of the services acquired or consume the goods purchased, regardless of when invoices are received or payment was made – and is the reason why the Answer to Question 231973 differs.</p><p> </p><p>The Annual Report &amp; Accounts are prepared in accordance with accounting standards and are subject to audit.</p><p> </p><p>By making use of consultants, the department can save on salary, national insurance and pension costs associated with permanently employing individuals whose skills may not be needed after a set period.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 20/05/2019 16:09:42 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1126554

registered interest
date	14/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Offences against Children: Trials
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether advice and training is in place for jury members deciding on cases of historical childhood sexual abuse; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	254207
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>Juries are randomly selected, independent and make decisions purely on the basis of the facts presented to them by the prosecution and defence. Jury members receive no advice or training prior to being called to serve on any case. However, they are guided and supported by the trial judge who advises them on the relevant points of law and reminds them of their role.</p><p>Judges hearing serious sex offence cases are required to have specialist training and specific instructions on how to direct the jury in sexual offence cases are available.</p><p> </p><p>There is guidance provided to judges in the Crown Court Compendium (a publicly available document) as to what directions may be given to juries in appropriate circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/crown-court-compendium-published-december-2018/</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 20/05/2019 16:06:12 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1126088

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
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, how many cases were rescheduled in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Greater London due to insufficient court space in the months of (i) February, (ii) March and (iii) April 2019.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	253550
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>Published data for criminal cases show the number of trials which were vacated or ineffective (and therefore do not go ahead) in the criminal courts and for ineffective trials, the reasons why the trial was ineffective. One of these is ‘court administrative issues including a lack of court time and court accommodation failures’, – however it is not possible to identify instances where this is specifically due to reasons of ‘insufficient court space’.</p><p> </p><p>Available data on vacated and ineffective trials is published here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>These statistics are currently published up to December 2018. Data for January – March 2019 are due to be published on 27 June 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Information relating to rescheduled cases and the reasons for them in the civil and family courts are not held by the Ministry of Justice.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/05/2019 11:19:54 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1125585

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
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 the Government is taking to reduce the waiting time for benefits appeals from the 40 week average cited by HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
tabling member constituency	Tynemouth
tabling member printed	Sir Alan Campbell
uin	252492
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 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 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 and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been appointed and are now hearing cases.</p><p>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 with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and providing 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/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</a></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/05/2019 10:58:52 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	529 label Biography information for Sir Alan Campbell

1125294

registered interest
date	08/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: ICT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Transform Justice blog entitled The secret room – who is listening to what in digital courts?, published on 11 April 2019, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of reports in that blog that a secret video control room was placed in a court in Medway; and what information his Department hold on whether that is widespread practice in other courts.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	251946
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>There is no secret video control room at Medway Magistrates’ Court.</p><p>There is a control room, not accessible to the public, where the coordination of participants and the connection and disconnection of video hearings to the courtroom takes place. This function is carried out by a HMCTS video court administrator. There are no other courts operating a control room across the criminal court estate.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/05/2019 12:13:37 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1125411

registered interest
date	08/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Aiding and Abetting: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the ethnicity is of adults who are (a) charged and (b) convicted of joint enterprise in the latest period for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	251981
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>Joint enterprise is a common law doctrine that applies to any offence where more than one person is being charged and convicted of the same crime. The Ministry of Justice only collects information on the ethnicity of defendants that are prosecuted and convicted of specific criminal offences in England and Wales (i.e. murder, manslaughter, etc) in any given year. Information is not collated on whether a prosecution or conviction also relied on the law of joint enterprise. Such information may be held on court records, but could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard grouped question UIN 251982 question first answered 17/05/2019 12:12:19 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1125412

registered interest
date	08/05/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Aiding and Abetting: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the ethnicity is of defendants under the age of 18 who have been (a) charged and (b) convicted of joint enterprise in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	251982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>Joint enterprise is a common law doctrine that applies to any offence where more than one person is being charged and convicted of the same crime. The Ministry of Justice only collects information on the ethnicity of defendants that are prosecuted and convicted of specific criminal offences in England and Wales (i.e. murder, manslaughter, etc) in any given year. Information is not collated on whether a prosecution or conviction also relied on the law of joint enterprise. Such information may be held on court records, but could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard grouped question UIN 251981 question first answered 17/05/2019 12:12:19 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1123671

registered interest
date	29/04/2019
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, how many Social Security and Child Support Tribunal appeals have taken longer than 52 weeks for a determination, in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	248645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the table below:</p><p>SOCIAL SECURITY &amp; CHILD SUPPORT CLEARANCES 1<br>Period Number of clearances that exceeded 52 weeks from receipt<br>1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014 16,161<br>1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015 12,350<br>1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016 3,100<br>1 April 2016 - 31 March 2017 4,084<br>1 April 2017 - 31 March 2018 7,330<br>1 April 2018 - 31 December 2018 2 13,162</p><p>1. Data include hearings cleared with and without a Tribunal hearing</p><p>2. The latest period for which data are available. Provisional data and subject to further change</p><p>Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.</p><p> </p><p><br>It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) recognises 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. This includes 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 medical members.</p><p>In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals. Information on the new digital service can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal</p><p>We are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to understand what could be done to reduce the number of appeals being submitted to the Tribunal, through their focus on improving decision-making and the mandatory reconsideration process.</p><p>These measures will increase the capacity of the Tribunal. As a result, the number of appeals outstanding in the Tribunal is starting to fall as the number of cases heard by the Tribunal outweigh those sent to the Tribunal. If this continues, over time, we expect the time it takes for the Tribunal to hear, and the age of, appeals to reduce.</p><p>The time taken for the Tribunal to hear an appeal is mainly driven by the number of appeals sent to the Tribunal and the capacity of the Tribunal to deal with them. The number of appeals sent to the Tribunal is directly affected by changes in welfare policy.</p><p>The time it takes the Tribunal to hear an appeal is calculated from the time it is sent to the Tribunal to its final disposal. An appeal is not necessarily disposed of at its first hearing. The final disposal decision on the appeal may be reached after an earlier hearing has been adjourned (which may be directed by the judge for a variety of reasons, such as to seek further evidence), or after an earlier hearing date had been postponed (again, for a variety of reasons, often at the request of the appellant). An appeal may also have been decided at an earlier date by the First-tier Tribunal, only for the case to have gone on to the Upper Tribunal, to be returned once again to the First-tier for its final disposal.</p><p>HMCTS is very sensitive to the needs of people who may be affected by waiting times for Tribunal hearings. Tribunal staff and judicial office-holders, are trained accordingly, with HMCTS’s reasonable adjustments policy and practice applied where appropriate. Guidance on the policy is published on GOV.UK. If an expedited hearing is sought, or where the Tribunal identifies a case which might benefit from an expedited hearing, a judge or caseworker will make a decision on the issue, taking all the circumstances of the case into account.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/05/2019 16:26:11 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris