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1249913

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2020
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) artificial intelligence and (b) machine learning projects are being (i) undertaken and (ii) considered for his Department.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	112082
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2020 answer text <p>The department does not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) in the true definition across its services. The department has an Analytical Platform which spots trends and create links between data sets; however, this wouldn’t fall under either category. A case study on the Analytical Platform can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/choose-tools-and-infrastructure-to-make-better-use-of-your-data#case-study---using-data-science-with-the-ministry-of-justice-analytical-platform" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/choose-tools-and-infrastructure-to-make-better-use-of-your-data#case-study---using-data-science-with-the-ministry-of-justice-analytical-platform</a></p><p> </p><p>With its analytical platform, the department has built a set of tools that provide the basis for the potential development of AI/ML tools, and alongside this, we are undertaking a project that builds on the Office for Artificial Intelligence guidance to develop practical tools and governance to support the ethical development of any future AL/ML project. The Government’s Data Ethics Framework and ‘Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’, alongside other guidance are available on GOV.UK, to support ethical and safe use of algorithms in the public sector.</p><p> </p><p>The Department continues to review where artificial intelligence or machine learning would add value to undertaking its duties. In most circumstances we use software in place of machine learning or Artificial Intelligence.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 12/11/2020 13:27:06 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1716698

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in judicial processes.
	tabling member constituency	Broadland
	tabling member printed	Jerome Mayhew
	uin	902791
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2024 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>While the listing of cases is an independent judicial function, we have consistently invested in judicial recruitment to ensure we have the capacity to deliver effective judicial processes. Since 2018, we have recruited around 1,000 judges and tribunal members annually, across all jurisdictions.</p><p> </p><p>Criminal courts <br>Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ courts, 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 370,700 at the end of December 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly.</p><p>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 and diverse magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.</p><p>At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. We delivered 107,700 sitting days in the most recent financial year (FY23/24) and judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases. The latest data shows cases progressed through the Crown Court more quickly throughout 2023, with the median time from receipt to completion reducing from 167 days in the first quarter of 2023, to 125 days in the last quarter.</p><p>We are also investing more in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings, up to March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>Family Court <br>In March 2024 the Family Justice Board agreed a new set of priorities for the family justice system, with a clear focus on closing the longest running cases and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluding within the 26-week statutory timeline.</p><p>We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55 million 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. The Department for Education are investing an extra £10 million to deliver new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law.</p><p>We have provided the flexibility for judges to sit virtually across regional boundaries, so that judges can be deployed where they are needed most, to reduce the caseload and waiting times.</p><p>We are also investing up to £23.6 million in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of May 2024, over 28,600 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.</p><p> </p><p>Civil courts</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 a significant volume of judicial recruitment underway for District and Deputy District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation.</p><p>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>The HMCTS Reform Program has introduced technology that delivers simplified and transformed digital ways of working for civil court users and judges such as the online money claims process and the damages claims service, offering accessible and responsive services.</p><p> </p><p>Tribunals <br>With regards to the 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><p>We have rolled out the HMCTS digital reform programme in the Immigration and Asylum and Social Entitlement chambers so that anyone challenging an immigration or welfare benefits decision can lodge their appeal, track progress and receive the results all online.</p><p>HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 14/05/2024 13:46:27 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
	tabling member	4739 label Biography information for Jerome Mayhew

1716699

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2024
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	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 the victims of crime.
	tabling member constituency	Gainsborough
	tabling member printed	Sir Edward Leigh
	uin	902803
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2024 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting victims of crime.</p><p> </p><p>The Victims and Prisoners Bill, which is currently in Report stage of the second House, introduces measures to better serve victims and the public, through improving victims’ experiences of the Criminal Justice System. The Bill places the overarching principles of the Victims’ Code into primary legislation and places a statutory duty on relevant agencies to provide services in accordance with the Victims’ Code, unless there is a good reason not to. The Bill sets up new oversight mechanisms to monitor and improve Code compliance through new mandatory data collection. There will be a series of consequences in place for bodies that do not comply with the Code, delivered by new local and national oversight mechanisms, with robust independent scrutiny by the Victims’ Commissioner.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises the importance of services which support victims, and so the Bill also introduces a duty on Police and Crime Commissioners Local Authorities and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate when commissioning support services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and serious violence in England. Alongside this, the government has quadrupled funding for victims’ support services in cash terms since 2009/10. This includes funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisers and Independent Domestic Violence Advisers to around 1,000 by 2024/25, a 24/7 Rape Support Helpline, and an improved Homicide Support Service.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to supporting victims directly, the Government is committed to making sure the punishment fits the crime. The average custodial sentence has increased by around 50% since 2010 and serious offenders now spend a higher proportion of their sentence in custody.</p> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 14/05/2024 17:04:47 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
	tabling member	345 label Biography information for Sir Edward Leigh

43436

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what sentence was received by each employee of the Prison Service found guilty in 2013 of criminal activity in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	192343
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold records of employees found guilty of all types of criminal activity.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst the vast majority of its staff are honest and hard working, NOMS is committed to detecting, deterring and disrupting all corrupt behaviour by individuals working in prisons. A dedicated NOMS Corruption Prevention Unit was set up to ensure staff corruption is identified and tackled. As part of this work NOMS has compiled a central record of staff convicted of criminal offences which meet the NOMS definition of corruption.</p><p> </p><p>This definition is that corruption occurs when a person in a position of authority or trust abuses their position for their or another person's benefit or gain. This would include the misuse of their role in order to plan or commit a criminal act, or a deliberate failure to act to prevent criminal behaviour.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There were <strong>23</strong> convictions for corruption-related offences during 2013. A breakdown of the different sentences is provided below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Sentences</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 years 6 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 years imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 years imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 9 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 4 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 1 month imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>10 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12 month custodial sentence suspended for 2 years.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>11 months custodial sentence suspended for a year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 months custodial sentence suspended for 12 months. 200 hours community service</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years and a 6 month residency order</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 yrs. 100 hrs unpaid work</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12mths Community Order. 150 hours unpaid work</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>100 hours community service and 12 months probation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Community Order. Ordered to pay £85 costs and £60 to complainants</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The total number of convictions by year for corruption-related offences is shown in the table below. The number of convictions has remained broadly constant over the last five years.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p>25</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p>21</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p>18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2009</strong></p></td><td><p>21</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The information provided has been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.</p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 28/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

43437

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison staff were dismissed in 2013 for conducting inappropriate relationships with prisoners.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
	uin	192342
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>The National Offender Management Service is committed to dealing with all allegations of misconduct swiftly and robustly. The NOMS Conduct and Discipline Policy sets out the standards of behaviour that all staff are expected to maintain. Where these standards are found to have been breached the disciplinary process set out in the NOMS Conduct and Discipline policy is applied.</p><p> </p><p>From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 there were a total of 11 NOMS employees dismissed for having an 'Inappropriate Relationship with a prisoner / ex prisoner'.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kenilworth and Southam answering member printed Jeremy Wright question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1560 label Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright
	tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

43439

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in each police force area have been caught speeding and received points on their driving licence in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Wakefield
	tabling member printed	Mary Creagh
	uin	192301
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>The maximum penalty for speeding is a fine of up to £1,000 and for speeding on a motorway, £2,500. The courts also have the power to disqualify the offender from driving and must in any event endorse the offender's licence by between three and six penalty points. Alternatively, if the police decide that the nature of the offence was less serious, they may offer the motorist the opportunity to receive a fixed penalty notice instead of prosecution. If a fixed penalty is issued, the driver may instead chose to plead innocence or mitigating factors in court, and if convicted, any sentence will be decided within the maximum penalty limit and in line with sentencing guidelines.</p><p> </p><p>The number of persons receiving endorsements only on their driving licence for speeding offences at all courts in England and Wales by police force area from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the attached table.</p><p> </p><p>Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.</p> answering member constituency Ashford answering member printed Damian Green question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 76 label Biography information for Damian Green attachment 1 file name 192301 - Creagh - Final Response - Speeding.XLS title Table 1
	tabling member	1579 label Biography information for Mary Creagh

43441

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many parents represented themselves at court in child proceedings in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Hammersmith
	tabling member printed	Mr Andy Slaughter
	uin	192290
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>Information on the legal representation of parties in family courts is available at a national level in table 2.4 of Court Statistics Quarterly the latest edition of which is available at this link:</p><p> </p><p><a title="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013</a></p><p> </p><p>However, you should note that this information relates to whether parties have a recorded representative, rather than whether they are litigants in person. It is also based on the number of disposals, rather than parents, and cases may of course involve multiple disposals.</p><p> </p><p>Parties with no legal representation are not a new phenomenon in our courts. Judges are used to helping persons with no legal representation, including explaining procedures and what is expected of them. We have also taken steps to help people who either want or have to represent themselves in court, including publishing a revised guide for separating parents and increased training for judges. The link to the guide is:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/cb7-eng.pdf" target="_blank">http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/cb7-eng.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 03/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	1516 label Biography information for Andy Slaughter

43444

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	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 between judgement and sentencing in criminal trials in England was in the latest period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of the trends in the time taken.
	tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
	tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
	uin	192266
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/04/2014 answer text <p>HMCTS can only answer this question for trials in the Crown Court. The case management database for magistrates' courts does not hold the date of conviction in a way we can calculate the time from conviction to sentence for all defendants so the only way we could answer the question would be to manually check each case file which would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p>The Crown Court database does and Table 1 below shows the average length between the latest conviction date in a trial and the date of sentence. The trend has seen the time between conviction and sentence falling from an average of 35.8 calendar days in 2007-08 to 24.6 calendar days in the first half of 2013-14. When a trial has more than one offence the jury may not reach verdicts against all on the same day, and the sentence cannot take place until all offences have a verdict.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Table 1 -Average length between conviction and sentence in Crown Court centres in England for defendants sentenced between April and September 2013</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Period</p></td><td><p>Average</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April to September 2013</p></td><td><p>24.6 calendar days</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>28.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>28.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>30.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>32.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>34.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>35.8</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><ol type="1"><li>The average number of calendar days between the latest jury conviction date and the earliest substantial sentence date.</li><li>Includes cases where the defendant changes their plea to guilty during the trial.</li><li>This is internal management information run specifically to answer this question.</li></ol><p> </p><p>The judiciary are able to sentence following conviction without the need for additional hearings as a result of initiatives currently in place. The judicially lead early guilty plea scheme aims to have guilty plea cases concluded at a single hearing. Similarly the probation service are able to provide reports on the day of conviction to facilitate the sentencing of the defendant.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 01/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

43822

	registered interest
	date	18/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what databases managed by his Department or its executive agencies and which will contain personal information are (a) under construction and (b) expected to go live in the next five years; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	192729
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2014 answer text <p>I can confirm that the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies including Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), currently have no plans to introduce any new HR-related centralised, multi-user database systems.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ascertain the individual categories of personal information across all existing, relevant centralised HR-related databases, we would be required to either allocate specialist business resources to identify the requirements and produce the data, or commission it directly from third party IT suppliers. All this would be at a disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes grouped question UIN 192727 192728 question first answered 31/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

43823

	registered interest
	date	18/03/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what categories of personal information will be held on each database managed by his Department or its executive agencies expected to become operational in the next five years; what estimate he has made of the number of individuals' details each such database will hold when fully operational; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	192727
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2014 answer text <p>I can confirm that the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies including Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), currently have no plans to introduce any new HR-related centralised, multi-user database systems.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ascertain the individual categories of personal information across all existing, relevant centralised HR-related databases, we would be required to either allocate specialist business resources to identify the requirements and produce the data, or commission it directly from third party IT suppliers. All this would be at a disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes grouped question UIN 192728 192729 question first answered 31/03/2014 12:00:00 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis