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1388170

registered interest
date	15/12/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Family Courts: Barnet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the level of the backlog of cases at Barnet Family Court as at 15 December 2021; and what steps he is taking to tackle that backlog.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	93843
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The backlog in the family court at Barnet for private and public law case is as shown in the table below. Average timeliness in weeks has been provided also. Barnet is part of the West London Designated Family Court area. To give context the data for the whole area is also provided.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year to September 2021</p></td><td><p>Barnet</p></td><td><p>West London</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of outstanding private law cases</p></td><td><p>925</p></td><td><p>2,596</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of outstanding public law cases</p></td><td><p>241</p></td><td><p>488</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average timeliness in weeks for private law</p></td><td><p>63.9</p></td><td><p>55.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average timeliness in weeks for public law</p></td><td><p>51.9</p></td><td><p>47.1</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The administration and senior judiciary are working closely together to increase the sitting capacity across the West London Cluster, which comprises of West London Family Court and Barnet County Court, and to re-balance the arrears of work across the region. Sitting days in the West London area have increased by 25%, comparing the financial year September 2021 to the same period in 2020.</p><p>In recognition of the pressures on family work across the West London estate, a Nightingale Court was created at Petty France with four additional courts. Additional courts are also being utilised in the Royal Courts of Justice.</p><p>The increased use of digital hearings in family have allowed the court to use more part-time judiciary and increase the number of hearings heard on a remote basis, and the introduction of a new pilot (known as Pilot Practice Direction 36Q*) is enabling the court to progress private law cases through the system more quickly by introducing early triage and case management between issue and the first hearing.</p><p>*PD36Q New <strong>Pilot Practice Direction</strong> 36Q came into force from 23 April 2020. Pilot PD36Q modifies PD12B (Child Arrangements Programme) to provide temporary local flexibility over procedures for progressing applications for Child Arrangements Orders.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge grouped question UIN 93844 question first answered 11/01/2022 14:19:43 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1388171

registered interest
date	15/12/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Family Courts: Barnet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) children and (b) families of the delay in hearing cases at Barnet Family Court.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	93844
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The backlog in the family court at Barnet for private and public law case is as shown in the table below. Average timeliness in weeks has been provided also. Barnet is part of the West London Designated Family Court area. To give context the data for the whole area is also provided.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year to September 2021</p></td><td><p>Barnet</p></td><td><p>West London</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of outstanding private law cases</p></td><td><p>925</p></td><td><p>2,596</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of outstanding public law cases</p></td><td><p>241</p></td><td><p>488</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average timeliness in weeks for private law</p></td><td><p>63.9</p></td><td><p>55.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average timeliness in weeks for public law</p></td><td><p>51.9</p></td><td><p>47.1</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The administration and senior judiciary are working closely together to increase the sitting capacity across the West London Cluster, which comprises of West London Family Court and Barnet County Court, and to re-balance the arrears of work across the region. Sitting days in the West London area have increased by 25%, comparing the financial year September 2021 to the same period in 2020.</p><p>In recognition of the pressures on family work across the West London estate, a Nightingale Court was created at Petty France with four additional courts. Additional courts are also being utilised in the Royal Courts of Justice.</p><p>The increased use of digital hearings in family have allowed the court to use more part-time judiciary and increase the number of hearings heard on a remote basis, and the introduction of a new pilot (known as Pilot Practice Direction 36Q*) is enabling the court to progress private law cases through the system more quickly by introducing early triage and case management between issue and the first hearing.</p><p>*PD36Q New <strong>Pilot Practice Direction</strong> 36Q came into force from 23 April 2020. Pilot PD36Q modifies PD12B (Child Arrangements Programme) to provide temporary local flexibility over procedures for progressing applications for Child Arrangements Orders.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge grouped question UIN 93843 question first answered 11/01/2022 14:19:43 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1300332

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: Pay
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 2 March 2021 to Question 158908, Prison Officers: Pay, what legal issues the advice contained in the Equality Impact Assessment relates to.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	164578
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2021 answer text <p>The 20/21 Prison Service Pay Review Body report was received on 5 June 2020 and included a recommendation, recommendation 3, to uplift the pay of Band 3 prison staff on modernised terms and conditions by £3,000. This recommendation was not accepted by the Government. An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted and considered in reaching the decision to reject recommendation 3.</p><p> </p><p>In line with the practice of successive administrations, the Government does not routinely publish Equality Impact Assessments (EIA). The scope of the legal issues in the EIA were regarding options that the Department was considering as part of its decision-making regarding prison officer pay and allowances. These options were ultimately not pursued as they were not cost viable.</p><p> </p><p>The EIA recognised that rejecting recommendation 3 from the PSPRB 20/21 report would adversely impact staff on Fair &amp; Sustainable (F&amp;S) terms and conditions, who (as per the data published on 2 March) are a more diverse staffing group than their counterparts on closed grade terms.</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s consideration of recommendation 3 took this into account, alongside other factors such as the exceptional costs associated with implementing this recommendation, the impact on the overall pay structure, and the changing labour market conditions due to the exceptional economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>The Department identified as part of the EIA that the adverse impact of rejecting recommendation 3 would be addressed by efforts to close the pay differential between staff on closed-grades terms and those on F&amp;S terms. While this cannot be progressed in the context of the current pay pause, this remains a key component of the Department’s longer-term pay strategy.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk grouped question UIN 164579 question first answered 16/03/2021 17:52:41 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1300333

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Officers: Pay
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 2 March 2021 to Question 158908, Prison Officers: Pay, what matters identified in that Equality Impact Assessment were relied upon when considering the impact of rejecting the recommendation on (a) unlawful discrimination and (b) advancing equality of opportunity.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	164579
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2021 answer text <p>The 20/21 Prison Service Pay Review Body report was received on 5 June 2020 and included a recommendation, recommendation 3, to uplift the pay of Band 3 prison staff on modernised terms and conditions by £3,000. This recommendation was not accepted by the Government. An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted and considered in reaching the decision to reject recommendation 3.</p><p> </p><p>In line with the practice of successive administrations, the Government does not routinely publish Equality Impact Assessments (EIA). The scope of the legal issues in the EIA were regarding options that the Department was considering as part of its decision-making regarding prison officer pay and allowances. These options were ultimately not pursued as they were not cost viable.</p><p> </p><p>The EIA recognised that rejecting recommendation 3 from the PSPRB 20/21 report would adversely impact staff on Fair &amp; Sustainable (F&amp;S) terms and conditions, who (as per the data published on 2 March) are a more diverse staffing group than their counterparts on closed grade terms.</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s consideration of recommendation 3 took this into account, alongside other factors such as the exceptional costs associated with implementing this recommendation, the impact on the overall pay structure, and the changing labour market conditions due to the exceptional economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>The Department identified as part of the EIA that the adverse impact of rejecting recommendation 3 would be addressed by efforts to close the pay differential between staff on closed-grades terms and those on F&amp;S terms. While this cannot be progressed in the context of the current pay pause, this remains a key component of the Department’s longer-term pay strategy.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk grouped question UIN 164578 question first answered 16/03/2021 17:52:41 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1290322

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Temporary Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the pilot temporary accommodation service for prison leavers will ensure vulnerable female prison leavers with complex needs (a) receive appropriate support from local services and (b) are provided with housing beyond the 12 weeks emergency accommodation.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	159342
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2021 answer text <p>We are investing more than £20m in supporting prison leavers at risk of homelessness into temporary accommodation for up to 12 weeks, giving them the foundation for a crime-free life. Launching in five of the 12 National Probation Service regions; East of England, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West, Greater Manchester and Kent, Surrey and Sussex the service will support around 3,000 offenders in its first year. This service will be in operation during the next financial year 2021-22, with a view to rolling out nationally, and funding will be allocated according to the number of people we forecast being released homeless in each of the five areas, and will reflect the learning gathered from both the Covid-19 emergency scheme and the offender accommodation pilot.</p><p> </p><p>The service will take account of the needs of women, including those with complex needs, and accommodation provision will be dedicated to single gender usage as required. It is the responsibility of the Community Offender Manager, working together with local partners, to ensure vulnerable female prison leavers with complex needs receive appropriate support and are provided with housing beyond the 12 weeks emergency accommodation. The temporary accommodation service provider will work with the Community Offender Manager to support the vulnerable female prison leaver move on into settled accommodation.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 08/03/2021 16:48:25 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1277471

registered interest
date	18/01/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Remote Hearings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing court proceedings to remote hearings to ensure the safety of the people involved during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	139082
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2021 answer text <p>Listing is a judicial function. Therefore, the decision as to how a hearing is conducted is a matter for the judiciary and they will determine how best to uphold the interests of justice. When deciding on the suitability of holding a hearing remotely by video/audio, judges will consider issues such as the nature of the matters at stake and any problems the use of video/audio technology may present for participants in the hearing.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 21/01/2021 17:58:34 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1274020

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Remote Hearings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has provided support to HM Courts and Tribunals Service to facilitate upgrades to the digital systems of the court network to allow remote hearings.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	134031
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2021 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice Digital and Technology team has provided a range of support to HM Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure its continuity of service with an increased rate of remote working.</p><p> </p><p>We have scaled up and re-configured existing infrastructure and systems to ensure stability with increased demand, or to create Covid-19 secure environments. We have supported the increased use of CVP (cloud video platform) from an existing pilot, to enable remote hearings, managing the associated network infrastructure changes. We have also onboarded CVP into live service under a robust support model (for all MoJ users) and supporting additional functionality required by HMCTS.</p><p> </p><p>MoJ Digital and Technology have led on the deployment of technology to set-up Nightingale courts. Our teams have managed the delivery of infrastructure, providing network connectivity, video services, end user compute, print and digital recording solutions. This deployment was devised to mirror provision at permanent sites.</p><p> </p><p>The department has increased the deployment of the magistrates bench solution to provide better facilities or magistrates in the courtroom environment and also deployed the Panel solution to enable non-salaried judiciary to access digital case files.</p><p> </p><p>We have also ensured that staff working remotely have the right device and access to systems to continue working and have deployed collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and scaled up the number of audio conferencing lines.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 14/01/2021 13:46:14 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1274021

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of measures introduced during the covid-19 outbreak in supporting Court administration.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	134032
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2021 answer text <p>Maintaining access to justice while keeping people safe is HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) top priority. As an essential public service, the courts and tribunals have remained open throughout the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>A national risk assessment was carried out at the start of the pandemic, and all buildings are required to complete and regularly review local risk assessments. We have invested an additional £110m so all of our buildings are Covid-secure and can continue to operate safely. For example, we have introduced installed plexiglass screens in over 400 court rooms, provided additional touchpoint cleaning, mandated the use of face coverings in all communal areas, introduced one-way systems and taken steps to reduce footfall and remodelled office areas to ensure social distancing.</p><p> </p><p>We rapidly expanded audio and video technology capability. Video and audio links were distributed to all courts and tribunals. The judiciary prioritised the most important cases at the start of the pandemic. When the judiciary decide a case is suitable for a remote hearing, HMCTS has the trained staff and required equipment in place to allow a remote hearing to take place. By utilising technology more hearings have been conducted by video or audio link and this has further reduced footfall in our buildings. HMCTS is undergoing an ambitious reform program and earlier digital reforms to divorce and probate services allow these systems to continue to operate while some tribunals managed to operate exclusively through audio and video hearings. Cases that are not suitable for a remote hearing are heard in a Covid-secure environment .</p><p> </p><p>To support working from home we have rolled-out over 9,000 laptops and reviewed our administrative processes to support flexible working.</p><p> </p><p>Public health experts agree that our policies on mitigations are sufficient for dealing with the challenges provided by the new variant of the virus. Current available evidence on the new variant shows it is spreading faster than other SARS-CoV-2 strains currently circulating in the UK. Therefore the existing mitigation measures (social distancing, hand hygiene, ventilation and face covering usage) must be rigorously adhered to and everyone must unfailingly follow the hands-face-space-guidance. We continue to act on the standards, advice and guidance available for workplaces, and where those change we will update our policies to meet any new guidelines.</p><p> </p><p>All suspected incidents and / or confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our court and tribunal buildings in England and Wales, and tribunals in Scotland, are reported to HMCTS. Where there are two or more confirmed cases or an increase in suspected incidents within 14 days linked to a single site, a national team provides additional support and guidance to local court and tribunals in managing the response, and early identification of close contacts so they can be informed to self-isolate in support of NHS Test and Trace. In line with public health guidance, where there are five or more confirmed cases (for England) or two or more confirmed cases (for Wales and Scotland) within a 14 day period we will, in accordance with public health guidance, refer to local health protection teams who will assess the individual circumstances and provide any further advice and guidance.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 14/01/2021 13:51:10 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1274022

registered interest
date	06/01/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the time required to clear the backlog of Court cases.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	134033
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2021 answer text <p>Data relating to receipts, disposals, outstanding caseload and the timeliness of cases across a number of jurisdictions can be found in our latest published statistics at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-october-2020" target="_blank">weekly management information page</a>. You can also view our recovery plans for the criminal, civil and family courts as well as the tribunals at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus" target="_blank">Court and Tribunal recovery update and our Crime recovery update</a> for further details on how we are working to clear the backlog.</p><p> </p><p>Despite the changing nature of the pandemic, we are working hard to ensure that courts and tribunals remain ‘COVID safe’ so that both face to face and remote hearings can proceed as expected. Despite ongoing restrictions, we’re continuing to safely increase court and tribunal capacity through measures such as Nightingale Courts, installing plexiglass screens to enable and increase jury trial capacity and using the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) for remote hearings.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 14/01/2021 13:54:18 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1270893

registered interest
date	14/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases have been heard in Nightingale courts; and what proportion of court cases in 2020 in England and Wales those account for.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	129074
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2020 answer text <p>Recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is our top priority. By opening 17 Nightingale courts, we have added vital capacity and provided 32 extra court rooms, alleviating the pressure on courts and tribunals resulting from the pandemic. Additionally, we have secured £30m of funding to open a further 40 Nightingale court rooms in early 2021.</p><p>We do not break down data on cases heard in Nightingale Courts.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 17/12/2020 16:54:36 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West