Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1220904

registered interest
date	06/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Matrimonial Proceedings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) the Family Justice Council and (b) other stakeholders on the use of Mesher Orders in divorce cases.
tabling member constituency	Loughborough
tabling member printed	Jane Hunt
uin	69747
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2020 answer text <p>There is guidance on Mesher Orders within the Family Justice Council’s <em>Guidance on “Financial Needs” on Divorce</em> (April 2018 – 2<sup>nd</sup> edition.). This was produced following the Law Commission’s recommendation in 2014 that the Family Justice Council prepare guidance on “financial needs” on divorce. The Department has not had recent discussions with the Family Justice Council or other stakeholders about Mesher Orders.</p><p>During the passage of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill through Parliament, the Government committed to set up a Lord Chancellor’s working group to conduct a review of the law of financial provision on divorce. This review will be led by the evidence, which is yet to be gathered, on whether there are problems with the current law and, if so, how these might be addressed. The Ministry of Justice is now considering terms of reference and membership of the working group. The Government will seek to ensure that the working group has a balance of members from across different professions.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 13/07/2020 16:34:26 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4839 label Biography information for Jane Hunt

1221040

registered interest
date	06/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Offences against Children: Sentencing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times (a) he, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials of his Department have met with representatives of the Sentencing Council to discuss sentencing for child cruelty offences in the last 18 months.
tabling member constituency	Tonbridge and Malling
tabling member printed	Tom Tugendhat
uin	69612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2020 answer text <p>Ministers meet the Chairman of the Sentencing Council regularly to discuss a range of issues related to sentencing. The Sentencing Council meets on a monthly basis to discuss matters relating to sentencing and guidelines and a representative of the Lord Chancellor attends those meetings. Officials in the MoJ also meet regularly with members of the Office of the Sentencing Council and discuss a wide range of issues.</p><p>The Sentencing Council has published a definitive guideline for child cruelty offences, which came into force on 1 January 2019.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 14/07/2020 11:21:45 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4462 label Biography information for Tom Tugendhat

1221189

registered interest
date	06/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) financial and (b) social support the Government is providing to prisoners who are being released from prison during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham East
tabling member printed	Janet Daby
uin	69683
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2020 answer text <p>It is vital for prison leavers to access those services that would meet their individual needs during the pandemic.</p><p>The financial support given by HMPPS to prison leavers comprises the following elements:</p><ul><li>A Discharge Grant (the Grant) of £46, which is paid directly to eligible prisoners on release. An eligible prisoner is essentially one who is sentenced and serves more than 14 days in custody;</li><li>A Discretionary Payment (DP) of up to £50 that Governors may pay a genuine accommodation provider to help the individual secure a release address; and</li></ul><ul><li>A travel warrant or fares paid upon release to their destination within the UK (including the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland), which are issued regardless of the prisoner’s eligibility for a Grant.</li></ul><p>The Grant, however, is entirely separate from the subsistence grant, which is payable to those who are eligible for release under the End of Custody Temporary Release (ECTR) scheme only. The purpose of these grants is to help prison leavers on release, so that they are supported while accessing other legal sources of income such as applying for benefits.</p><p>The higher rate of the Subsistence Grant is set at £80 to reflect the more limited amount of time prisoners have had to prepare for their release under the ECTR scheme.</p><p>We have invested an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to deliver an enhanced Through the Gate resettlement service to people leaving prison to prepare them for release. The enhanced service includes the requirement that CRCs complete specific, tailored, tasks to help prisoners to secure and maintain settled accommodation, gain employment and manage debt and their financial affairs. During the Covid period most of this support is being provided remotely after CRCs invested in greater use of mobile technology to maintain levels of contact with offenders in the community in a safe and efficient manner. After a prison sentence, service users are supervised and supported by Probation Officers in the Community.</p><p>A further £8.5m has been secured to support individuals at risk of homelessness on their release from prison for up to eight weeks of targeted support, together with the necessary help required to ensure individuals move on into permanent accommodation. This scheme was originally due to run until 26<sup>th</sup> June; however, we have recently undertaken our first review and, following this, have extended the scheme until 31 July. This is an exceptional measure reflecting the current challenges.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 14/07/2020 10:48:07 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4698 label Biography information for Janet Daby

1221206

registered interest
date	06/07/2020
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: Equality
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 potential merits of undertaking equality impact assessments for staff returning to work with HM Courts and Tribunal Service which take into account an employee's protected characteristics.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	69714
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2020 answer text <p>HMCTS have comprehensively assessed risk to staff and users and are ensuring the safety of anyone who comes into our buildings by applying published court and tribunal coronavirus safety controls. These have been endorsed by Public Health England and Public Health Wales. Additionally, a process for checking compliance at each site is in place, with controls reviewed and monitored at each court and tribunal building.</p><p>Following the recent publication of additional PHE guidance, ‘Beyond the Data’ HMCTS are conducting specific recorded conversations for any individuals of BAME ethnicities, colleagues who are over 70 or male colleagues of working age. This has formed part of the current return to work process and will require individuals to self-identify as being from one of the specified groups. For individuals who are already in the workplace, this has formed part of their 4 weekly Keeping in Touch conversation with their line manager. The tool is being used with Line managers to capture and record what additional support or interventions are being considered to ensure colleagues feel comfortable and safe in the workplace. HMCTS HR will continually review the tool and its suitability, in line with central Civil Service Employee Policy guidance.</p><p>Our priority is to keep all court users safe and we staff for their service during this unprecedented public health emergency.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 13/07/2020 15:12:41 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1221225

registered interest
date	06/07/2020
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: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has undertaken an equality impact assessment of the risk assessment tool for bringing staff back into work at HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	69715
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2020 answer text <p>HMCTS have comprehensively assessed risk to staff and users and are ensuring the safety of anyone who comes into our buildings by applying published court and tribunal coronavirus safety controls. These have been endorsed by Public Health England and Public Health Wales. Additionally, a process for checking compliance at each site is in place, with controls reviewed and monitored at each court and tribunal building.</p><p>Following the recent publication of additional PHE guidance, ‘Beyond the Data’ HMCTS are conducting specific recorded conversations for any individuals of BAME ethnicities, colleagues who are over 70 or male colleagues of working age. This has formed part of the current return to work process and will require individuals to self-identify as being from one of the specified groups. For individuals who are already in the workplace, this has formed part of their 4 weekly Keeping in Touch conversation with their line manager. The tool is being used with Line managers to capture and record what additional support or interventions are being considered to ensure colleagues feel comfortable and safe in the workplace. HMCTS HR will continually review the tool and its suitability, in line with central Civil Service Employee Policy guidance.</p><p>Our priority is to keep all court users safe and we staff for their service during this unprecedented public health emergency.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 13/07/2020 15:16:24 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1220606

registered interest
date	03/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Juries: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to suspend temporarily the right to trial by jury to tackle the backlog of cases as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and whether his Department would be required to conduct an impact assessment before introducing that suspension.
tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
uin	68742
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2020 answer text <p>We have now published our court recovery plan, setting out how we are recovering the operations of our courts and tribunals after the pandemic and a more detailed criminal court recovery plan will follow. We are continuing to increase capacity.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus</a></p><p>We have no plans to remove the right to a trial by jury, something which I am deeply committed to.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 08/07/2020 14:56:59 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1220608

registered interest
date	03/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Profession: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department is doing to tackle the diversity gap in the upper levels of the legal profession.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	68670
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2020 answer text <p>The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government. Statutory responsibility for encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession sits with the approved regulators, overseen by the oversight regulator, the Legal Services Board (LSB). Ministry of Justice Ministers encourage the sector to ensure it more closely represents the diverse society it serves through ongoing engagement with the regulators and the legal profession.</p><p>In 2017 the LSB published revised guidance for legal services regulators for encouraging a diverse workforce, and introduced new transparency duties at firm and chambers level to monitor and publish diversity statistics. In 2019 the LSB published a summary of the progress of regulators against four diversity outcomes, which showed positive examples of a new approach to diversity, but also areas where further action is required.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 13/07/2020 16:29:08 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1220682

registered interest
date	03/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Sexual Offences: Trials
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department's policy in on the use of character witnesses during trials for (a) victims and (b) perpetrators of historical sexual abuse.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	68713
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2020 answer text <p>In criminal trials, including of offences of historical sexual abuse, rules of evidence do not permit the Crown to call evidence of the good character of a prosecution witness in order to bolster their credibility. The law assumes victims to be truthful and credible, and restricts the ways in which their veracity and credibility can be challenged by the defence; evidence of a victim’s good character is therefore not relevant to what is in issue, and is not admissible.</p><p>Defendants also are assumed to be of good character unless there is evidence to the contrary. Where the prosecution does rely on bad character evidence against the defendant (and there are fewer restrictions on the admissibility of evidence of a defendant’s alleged bad character than there are in relation to a witness’ bad character), then character evidence might be relevant to contradict it.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 08/07/2020 14:53:07 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1220317

registered interest
date	02/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Immigration
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there were in Magistrates' and Crown courts for all the offences mentioned in section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971 in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	South Holland and The Deepings
tabling member printed	Sir John Hayes
uin	68279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2020 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice has published information on convictions at offence level up to December 2019. The number of convictions for offences under section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971 at all courts can be found in the ‘Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool’, available here:</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888344/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888344/HO-code-tool-principal-offence-2019.xlsx</a></p><p>In the pivot table, filter the Offence code field to the following Home Office offence codes:</p><p><strong>07804 </strong>Non-British citizen, by means including deception, obtaining or seeking leave to enter or remain in the UK or postponement, avoidance or revocation of enforcement action against him</p><p><strong>19401</strong> Non-citizen entering UK in breach of a deportation order</p><p><strong>19402</strong> Non-citizen entering UK without leave</p><p><strong>19403</strong> Non-citizen having only a limited leave remaining in UK beyond the time limit.</p><p><strong>19404</strong> Non-citizen failing to observe conditions of leave</p><p><strong>19405</strong> Non-citizen entering United Kingdom as a member of a crew of a ship or aircraft and who is required to leave on the ship or aircraft remaining in the United Kingdom beyond the time allowed</p><p><strong>19406</strong> Non-citizen failing to comply with requirements to report to a medical officer or to submit to a test or examination required by such an officer</p><p><strong>19407</strong> Non-citizen failing to observe any restrictions as to residence or to reporting to police or an immigration officer</p><p><strong>19408</strong> Non-citizen disembarking in the United Kingdom from a ship or aircraft after being placed on board with a view to removal from United Kingdom</p><p><strong>19409</strong> Non-citizen embarking in contravention of a restriction imposed by Order in Council</p><p>Convictions can be found in row 32 of the pivot table. If an offence code does not appear in the drop-down box then there were no prosecutions or convictions for that particular offence in the time period covered by the table.</p><p>The figures given in the pivot table relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 09/07/2020 16:32:45 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes

1219750

registered interest
date	01/07/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Coronavirus
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 potential merits of introducing a prison whistleblowing hotline to enable staff to confidentially report health and safety concerns (a) during and (b) after the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will introduce such a hotline.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	67703
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2020 answer text <p>Staff are aware that they can report H&amp;S concerns to their line managers, or a H&amp;S qualified practitioner present at each establishment. The Ministry of Justice has whistle blowing procedures in place for employees who wish to raise any concerns, including the endangering of an individual’s health and safety. The current H&amp;S reporting system also provides a reliable local and national reporting and recording tool that allows staff to voice their concerns and for H&amp;S teams to monitor and take action where necessary. We therefore do not have any current plans to initiate a specific whistleblowing hotline or campaign.</p><p>All staff receive a full H&amp;S induction upon commencement of their roles, which includes an introduction and explanation of the reporting and investigation process and local or notifications and contingencies are published by Governors advising staff of risks and to implement controls as necessary.</p><p>HMPPS operates both national and local health and safety committees across probation and custody in line with the legal requirements for consultation on health and safety matters and maintains active engagement with health and safety representatives. Such committees are held at least quarterly and attendance by staff and union representatives is actively encouraged. This is in addition to an extensive range of informal consultation and liaison both nationally and locally.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 67704 67705 67706 question first answered 06/07/2020 14:59:17 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon