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1131835

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Reform
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total spending was on (a) academic research and (b) public consultations undertaken by his Department to inform the HMCTS reform programme in each financial year since 2011-12.
	tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
	tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	263790
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>HMCTS and the Ministry of Justice have undertaken a number of formal written consultation exercises since the Reform Programme began in 2016. This included the Ministry of Justice consultation on the Reform Programme entitled Transforming our Justice System, which set out the Government’s broad approach to reform and sought views on three specific sets of proposals: the assisted digital strategy; automatic online conviction and statutory standard penalty; and tribunal panel composition.</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS has spent the following amounts on academic research for evaluation of reform:</p><p> </p><p>2016/17: £220,000 for research on the Citizen user Experience</p><p>2017/18: £50,000 for research on the Professional User Experience</p><p>2017/18: £40,000 for a survey of SSCS appellants digital capability</p><p>2018/19: £49,000 for LSE evaluation of video hearings in tax</p><p>2018/19: £47,976 for research on Flexible Operating Hours</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS undertakes public consultation when reorganising estate or closing a tribunal building. This work is conducted by civil servants alongside other duties and it is not possible to capture an accurate assessment of the time and cost spent on this.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:36:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1132395

	registered interest
	date	17/06/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Probate
	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 average length of time for probate to be granted in the last (a) three months and (b) financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
	tabling member printed	Simon Hart
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	265484
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>Official statistics are not published on the average length of time from receipt of the application to the issue of a grant of probate. Internal management information, which is not subject to the rigorous quality assurance processes of official statistics, however shows that in the last financial year (2018/2019) the average time was three weeks.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst timeliness data are not yet available for the last three months, it is clear that waiting times have increased. Urgent action has been taken to address these temporary delays, staffing has been increased and the digital service further improved, and as a result waiting times are starting to reduce.</p><p> </p><p>There are no prescribed target times for dealing with probate applications. The recent increase in waiting times has been caused by a combination of an increased volume of incoming work and the transition to a new case management IT system. The move to the new system meant that staff had to spend time being trained and familiarising themselves with the system – which also had some initial performance issues that have been addressed.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:38:49 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3944 label Biography information for Simon Hart

1138097

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Personal Names: Deed Poll
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has plans to end the requirement for the consent of a spouse when entering into a change of name deed to be enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice using form LOC020.
	tabling member constituency	South Cambridgeshire
	tabling member printed	Heidi Allen
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	275802
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government has no current plans to end the requirement, in the Enrolment of Deeds (Change of Name) Regulations 1994, that a court should satisfy itself that the spouse or civil partner is aware when an applicant wishes to change their name through the courts by deed poll. This recognises that the change of name may have implications other than for the applicant. It is not mandatory in all cases – an applicant may seek to demonstrate to the court that there is good reason to dispense with such consent.</p><p> </p><p>This process is for those who wish to have a court-based verification and validation of the change of name Under the common law, it is open to a person aged 16 or above to change their name by deed poll themselves through the ‘unenrolled’ process. This simply requires the deed to be witnessed and attested by the signature of two witnesses.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:25:31 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4516 label Biography information for Heidi Allen

1138652

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Trials: Sexual Offences
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for a not guilty plea trial for an alleged sexual offence in each court in (a) 2011 and (b) 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds East
	tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	276572
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested about Crown Court waiting times can be found in the attached excel document. However, due to small numbers of defendants pleading not guilty to sexual offences at magistrates’ court, we are unable to supply the average time between first listing and trial start date – basing an average on such small numbers can skew the mean and result in the figures being unrepresentative<em>.</em></p><p> </p><p>The overall median waiting time in Crown Courts for defendants in sexual offence cases tends to be higher than that for other offences due to a lower guilty plea rate for these cases. However, from a peak of 25.9 weeks in Quarter three 2018, the average waiting time has fallen by 12% to 22.7 weeks in Quarter one 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Performance, demand and waiting times in the courts are constantly reviewed to balance sitting days with waiting times, disposals and receipts. Resources are adjusted when required. Demand has been falling in recent years and sitting days have been reduced accordingly. Waiting times for trials in the Crown Court for 2018 have been the lowest since 2014, despite the challenge of increasingly complex cases.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:49:08 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard attachment 1 file name Crown Court Info.xls title Crown Court Info
	tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

1138673

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme
	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 number of not-for-profit legal aid providers that have closed in each year for the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	276509
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The LAA does not hold data on Not For Profit (NfP) organisation closures, only whether they hold a contract to deliver legal aid services. Under the LAA’s contracting regime, an organisation may be contracted to deliver services from one or multiple offices. Contracts may be ended by either party; providers may choose to withdraw from the whole contract, an office or a category of law or the LAA may take action should a provider breach its contract obligations. All contracted providers make their own commercial decisions and withdrawal from a legal aid contract may not be as a result of a closure. For example, NfPs may withdraw from a legal aid contract but continue to operate reliant on other funding, or may choose to consolidate offices but continue to deliver larger volumes of work across a wider area. The table below shows the number of NfP providers (at office level) holding a legal aid contract in any given year. While NfP organisations play a role in helping people access justice, they are not the sole means. We have 1,439 organisations delivering legal aid contracts across the England and Wales – 1,356 of which are with legal firms rather than the not-for-profit sector which includes law centres. We spent £1.6 billion on legal aid last year and in addition to the Civil Legal Advice Telephone service, we are investing £5m in innovative technologies to help people access legal support wherever they are. <table><tbody><tr><td colspan="11"><p>Financial Year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>2019 September</p></td><td><p>2019/20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>596</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>495</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>456</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>395</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>397</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>320</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>311</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>295</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>285</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>233</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>213</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:50:20 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham