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224491

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, what procedures are in place for informing victims of the reasons for delays in criminal matters relevant to their case being listed for court.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225839
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>The joint police/Crown Prosecution Service Witness Care Units are responsible for updating victims on the progress of their case. This includes informing victims of hearing outcomes, and, in any case which cannot be listed within the usual timescales, providing them, where known, with relevant information about why the delay has occurred.</p><p>The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (the Victims’ Code) sets out the services to be provided to victims of crime. Under the Victims’ Code, victims are entitled to be informed of the date, location and outcome of any criminal court hearings in the case by their Witness Care Unit or by the police where they act as a single point of contact for victims. This information must be provided within 1 working day of the Witness Care Unit receiving it from the court. Where victims are due to attend court as a witness they are entitled wherever possible, to receive an explanation from the Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor or representative if there is a delay in proceedings on the day and how long the wait is likely to be.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Mr Robert Buckland question first answered 09/03/2015 16:43:51 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224441

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupils: Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all people working with young people report concerns about those people's welfare to the police.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225853
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>The Government’s statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children', is clear that anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local authority children’s social care. If there is an immediate risk to a child, a referral should also be made to the police.</p><p> </p><p>On 3 March 2015, the Government published ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ which sets out how we are tackling child sexual exploitation and is available online at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-exploitation--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-exploitation--2</a>. This includes updating the statutory guidance which will reinforce what action practitioners should take if they are concerned about a child. We will also be consulting on an extension to the new ‘wilful neglect’ offence to cover children’s social care, education and elected members. This will be included in the consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse, which we have publically committed to undertaking.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 09/03/2015 15:31:18 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224485

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Courts: Buildings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) victims and (b) witnesses had access to discrete waiting areas in courts in England and Wales in the last year for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225844
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>The Government pledged in “Our Commitment to Victims” to consider the needs of victims and witnesses as we reform the court system. This will include upgrading facilities such as separate waiting areas.</p><p> </p><p>All Crown Court Centres have separate waiting facilities for victims and witnesses.</p><p>97% of magistrates’ courts have some kind of separate witness waiting facility.[1] For those courts that do not have this facility, special arrangements are put in place with advance notice.</p><p> </p><p>HM Courts and Tribunals Service uses information about victims and witnesses in criminal cases to ensure that individual trials are managed effectively and victims and witnesses are not kept waiting around unnecessarily to give their evidence. We do not, however, hold data on the number of victims and witnesses choosing to use the discrete waiting areas.</p><p> </p><p>[1] Her Majesty’s Court Service Annual Report and Accounts 2009-2010</p><p>http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/hmcs/annual-reports/HMCS-Annual-Report2009-2010-web.pdf?type=Finjan-Download&amp;slot=000000A2&amp;id=000000A1&amp;location=0A64020C</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 225842 question first answered 09/03/2015 16:33:31 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224486

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Civil Proceedings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for redress to civil or family courts during each of the last five years were deemed to be vexatious.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225848
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not record the number of applications to the civil and family courts which are deemed to be vexatious. However, HMCTS does record the number of ‘totally without merit’ orders that are made following an application being deemed as totally without merit. The data provided in this answer relates to orders made when applications are deemed to be totally without merit.</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS maintains a national database which lists all civil and family totally without merit orders. The retention period for entries on the database is three years and therefore only data relating to this period is set out in the table below. In addition, the orders may relate to multiple applications and therefore the volume of orders will not necessarily represent the number of applications received by HMCTS.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Table One: Totally without merit orders made in the last three years</strong>[1]</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Time period</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Totally Without Merit Orders made</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 March 2012 – 28 February 2013</p></td><td><p>2080</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 March 2013 – 28 February 2014</p></td><td><p>3004</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 March 2014 – 28 February 2015</p></td><td><p>1495</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>HMCTS does not record the number of victims that have reported vexatious applications or the nature of proceedings, including whether they relate to stalking or harassment. In order to provide the information HMCTS would have to manually review each file that relates to stalking and harassment claims. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><br /><p>[1] This data is internal HMCTS management information and it is not subject to the same level of checking as Official Statistics.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 225847 question first answered 09/03/2015 15:26:16 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224487

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Victim Support Schemes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims of crime were given support by state-funded organisations in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225849
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>This Government is committed to putting victims and witnesses first, significantly improving services and support for victims and investing more than ever in the help they are offered. In 2012/13 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provided £50.26m to victim’s services and £57.02m in 2013/14. This will reach over £92 million in the next financial year (2015/16).</p><p> </p><p>The MoJ funds a large number of organisations, including registered charities, voluntary and community groups who each complete regular monitoring returns. It would incur disproportionate costs to consolidate each organisation’s monitoring returns for 2013 and 2014 and disclose how many victims of crime were supported.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning grouped question UIN 225838 question first answered 09/03/2015 16:31:56 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224488

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Crime: Victims
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints from victims have been received by the Courts and Probation Service in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225845
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>This Government is committed to putting victims and witnesses first, and we are reforming our system to make it so. This includes more than doubling funding to help victims since we came to power — reaching over £92million next year (2015/16) — to make sure victims receive the best possible support.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>A unified administrative complaints procedure for HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service was launched in October 2011 which introduced a new set of categories and sub categories for recording details of complaints, including from victims. I am unable to provide data on complaints from victims before October 2011.</p><p> </p><p>Data extracted on 4 March 2015 shows the numbers of complaints made by victims to HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Period</p></td><td><p>Complaints from victims to HMCTS</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct 2011 to March 2012</p></td><td><p>64</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2012 to March 2013</p></td><td><p>96</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2013 to March 2014</p></td><td><p>146</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2014 to February 2015</p></td><td><p>147</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The National Offender Management Service does not currently record information centrally in relation to the number of complaints received from victims, and has not made an estimate of this number. Systems are being developed that will record complaints at a national level.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>1. Data for criminal cases disposed of in magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court are published in Criminal Courts Statistics Quarterly at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics</a> .</p><p>2. The methodology for calculating magistrates’ court receipts was changed from April 2012. Data prior to this period is not comparable.</p><p>3. The latest data published is up to September 2014. Data to December 2014 will be published on 26 March 2015.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 09/03/2015 15:48:04 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224489

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Criminal Injuries Compensation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what costs may be incurred by the victim when applying for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225850
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington on 2 March 2015. This can be found on the Parliament.uk website here:</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><a title="blocked::http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-12/224448" href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-12/224448" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-02-12/224448</a></p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning grouped question UIN 225851 225852 question first answered 09/03/2015 14:58:39 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224490

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Victim Support Schemes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how state-funded organisations which support victims are regulated; and how the outcomes of the work of these organisations are monitored by his Department.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225838
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p>This Government is committed to putting victims and witnesses first, significantly improving services and support for victims and investing more than ever in the help they are offered. In 2012/13 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provided £50.26m to victim’s services and £57.02m in 2013/14. This will reach over £92 million in the next financial year (2015/16).</p><p> </p><p>The MoJ funds a large number of organisations, including registered charities, voluntary and community groups who each complete regular monitoring returns. It would incur disproportionate costs to consolidate each organisation’s monitoring returns for 2013 and 2014 and disclose how many victims of crime were supported.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning grouped question UIN 225849 question first answered 09/03/2015 16:31:56 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224492

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Pre-trial Procedures
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will introduce pre-trial hearings to determine the nature of cross-examination of victims and witnesses in crown court proceedings.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225840
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>This Government is committed to ensuring vulnerable victims and witnesses have access to high quality, effective and timely support.</p><p> </p><p>The value of pre-trial ground rules is increasingly being recognised and closely links with measures that my Department is implementing to improve the experience of victims and witnesses. These include giving greater opportunity to give evidence away from the court room and, subject to evaluation of the pilot, roll-out of recorded pre-trial cross-examination.</p><p> </p><p>In reviewing how to reduce the distress experienced by vulnerable victims and witnesses in sexual violence cases tried in the Crown Court, we identified that the scope and use of Ground Rules Hearings could be widened.</p><p> </p><p>The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee has agreed amendments to the criminal procedure rules which will encourage use of ground rules to facilitate participation of witnesses (including defendants) in trials. These changes take effect from 6 April 2015. The rules will provide that directions can be given for the appropriate treatment and questioning of a witness, especially where the court directs that such questioning is to be conducted through an intermediary, and list things the court should do where directions for appropriate treatment and questioning are required.</p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 09/03/2015 13:07:15 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd

224496

	registered interest
	date	02/03/2015
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Courts: Communication
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve communication between civil, family and criminal courts.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Mr Elfyn Llwyd
	uin	225846
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2015 answer text <p /> <p>HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service’s regional structure encourages staff to review and improve internal processes and communication. This promotes the sharing of information and best practice across the three jurisdictions. Internal communications channels ensure that staff in all jurisdictions receive and share the same information.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service is committed to providing an efficient and effective service to users at all of its courts and tribunals.</p><p> </p><p>The Government pledged in “Our Commitment to Victims” to ensure that victims’ needs are at the forefront of our plans to modernise the courts.</p><p> </p><p>In particular,<strong> t</strong>he Government implemented a new Code of Practice for Victims of Crime on 10th December 2013. The Victims’ Code outlines the minimum entitlements every victim of crime must expect to receive from Criminal Justice System partners.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 09/03/2015 15:40:01 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	549 label Biography information for Mr Elfyn Llwyd