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1274165

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	Debt Collection: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance he has issued on the taking control of goods by enforcement agents for the duration of national covid-19 restrictions in England.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull East
tabling member printed	Karl Turner
uin	133808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>In light of the extraordinary circumstances engendered by the coronavirus pandemic, the Government has taken steps to ensure that enforcement activity is conducted safely and in accordance with the public health measures in place to reduce the spread of Covid-19.</p><p>This includes the publication of Covid-secure guidance for those using the taking control of goods procedure, which has been in place since enforcement at homes was permitted to resume in August 2020. The guidance requires a consideration of the health risks and sets out the steps that enforcement agents and firms should take in order to ensure they operate safely, including: adhering to social distancing requirements; use of suitable PPE; and withdrawing and re-scheduling their visit for a later time if a household is symptomatic or self-isolating.</p><p>The guidance is titled <em>Working safely during COVID-19: enforcement agents (bailiffs) </em>and is available on Gov.uk. It is kept under review to ensure it continues to reflect the latest public health advice.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 11/01/2021 16:30:33 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4030 label Biography information for Karl Turner

1274177

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	Legal Aid Scheme: Companies
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to support legal aid firms during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Kingston and Surbiton
tabling member printed	Ed Davey
uin	133626
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a range of challenges for the legal profession. We have been working closely with legal aid providers across the justice system throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so, monitoring any impact and understanding their concerns.</p><p> </p><p>A range of measures have been introduced to support providers during the pandemic while maintaining access to justice for the most vulnerable in society. These include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Reducing the levels of contract administration to allow providers to focus on supporting their clients;</li><li>Expanding how domestic abuse requirements may be evidenced to make it easier for victims to access legal aid during this difficult period;</li><li>Expanding the scope and relaxing the evidence requirements for hardship payments in crown court cases – including reducing the threshold for work done to £450, rather than the previous £5,000;</li><li>Halting the pursuit of outstanding debts owed to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA);</li><li>Suspending sanctions in relation to missed deadlines for delegated function applications, substantive amendments and appeals against LAA decisions;</li><li>Publicising existing avenues of financial help for legal firms, such as the ability to apply for early payment for work already done on a case, and changing rules for payment on account for providers, benefitting cashflow in the short-term and ensuring that providers can claim the same amount of money for online hearings as they can for face-to-face hearings.</li></ul><p> </p><p>HM Treasury have introduced and recently extended a range of measures to support individuals and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the furlough scheme, Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan and Bounce Back Loan, to provide some financial stability. We encourage the professions to continue to take advantage of this support where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>We will continue to closely monitor the situation, working with providers to keep these measures under review.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 11/01/2021 16:24:59 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	188 label Biography information for Ed Davey

1272317

registered interest
date	18/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Judges: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support fee-paid judges who have not earned enough this year to repay the loan offered by the judicial hardship fund.
tabling member constituency	Richmond Park
tabling member printed	Sarah Olney
uin	131377
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting fee-paid judges who have been affected by reduced sittings as a result of COVID-19.</p><p>We introduced the hardship scheme in May to enable advance payments to be made to fee-paid judges who were struggling financially. This was on the understanding that this money would be recovered gradually from recipients as sittings resumed.</p><p>We reviewed the repayment terms in August and, as a result, have made the following changes to make it easier for fee-paid judges to repay the advance:</p><ul><li>the start date for repayments was moved from September to November 2020, to allow more time for sittings to recover;</li><li>recipient judges need only begin repayments once their judicial fee income reaches 70% of their monthly average for 2019-20, to ensure that repayments are affordable; and</li><li>judges can choose to spread repayments over the period up to 31 March 2022.</li></ul><p>We will continue to monitor the situation and will review repayment arrangements, on request, for anyone in the scheme who is concerned that they may struggle to make payment in full by March 2022.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 11/01/2021 16:22:17 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4591 label Biography information for Sarah Olney

1272190

registered interest
date	17/12/2020
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: Weapons
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 7 December 2020 to question 122689 on HMCTS: Weapons, how many (a) arrests were made and (b) prosecutions were commenced as a result of those weapon confiscations.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	131262
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>HM Courts and Tribunals Service has a robust security screening process at the public entrance to its buildings to ensure any item that could be used as a weapon is removed from court and tribunal users. It keeps detailed information on those confiscations. Any article considered to be an illegal weapon is reported to the police for onward deliberation as to whether an offence has been committed.</p><p>HM Court and Tribunals service does not collate information on whether those referrals result in arrests or prosecutions.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 11/01/2021 16:38:49 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1271849

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Epilepsy
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 personal independence payment claimants with epilepsy have had their claim accepted at appeal following an initial rejection.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
tabling member printed	Emma Hardy
uin	130821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>HM Courts &amp; Tribunals Service does not categorise appeals by illness, or disability, of the appellant. This information is therefore not held centrally.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 11/01/2021 16:37:37 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4645 label Biography information for Emma Hardy

1271857

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Victim Support Schemes: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a breakdown of the £40 million in funding for victim services announced in the Spending Review 2020.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
uin	130785
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Spending Review will provide a total of £40m for victims and support services. We are continuing to provide £15 million this year to fulfil the manifesto commitment to increase support for victims of sexual violence and rape, including funding for new Independent Sexual Violence Advisors to support victims through the justice system. As well as this, we are providing an additional £25 million this year for victims and support services. This recognises the negative impact that Covid-19 has had on vulnerable victims of crime, including victims of domestic abuse and builds on the £20 million we provided last year to help domestic abuse and sexual violence community-based services meet Covid-driven demand. In due course, more detailed allocations will be announced.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 11/01/2021 16:20:05 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

1271860

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Youth Rehabilitation Orders
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to enact Paragraph 35 of Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 to allow sentencers to review Youth Rehabilitation Orders.
tabling member constituency	Hove
tabling member printed	Peter Kyle
uin	130786
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>Paragraph 35 in Schedule 1 to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 can now be found in section 194 of the Sentencing Act 2020. Section 194 gives the Secretary of State the power, by regulation, to make provision for the review of a Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO) and to make provision about the frequency and conduct of those reviews and the court’s powers on review. This has not changed with the commencement of the Sentencing Act 2020, no secondary legislation has been made under this power.</p><p>We are aware of innovative local approaches and informal arrangements between some magistrates and Youth Offending Teams to improve information sharing and involve magistrates in reviewing the ongoing progress of children in relation to their orders. We are actively considering how the Ministry of Justice can learn from and best support these approaches, while ensuring we maintain the impartial court process. We have no current plans to make an order under section 194 of the Sentencing Act 2020 but are considering this carefully.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 11/01/2021 16:57:17 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4505 label Biography information for Peter Kyle

1271936

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Family Proceedings
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many family law cases were outstanding in each month of this year.
tabling member printed	Baroness Taylor of Bolton
uin	HL11551
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/01/2021 answer text <p>HM Courts and Tribunals Service publishes management information on workload and timeliness within the family courts on a monthly basis. This includes the number of outstanding cases which have been receipted but not yet disposed of at the end of each month.</p><p>The following table details the number of private family law (children) cases and public family law cases outstanding at the end of each month of this year. This presents the most current data at the time of responding.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Private Family Law – outstanding cases</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Public Family Law – outstanding cases</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2020</p></td><td><p>51,906</p></td><td><p>18,841</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2020</p></td><td><p>53,844</p></td><td><p>19,367</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2020</p></td><td><p>56,378</p></td><td><p>19,958</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2020</p></td><td><p>58,819</p></td><td><p>19,626</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2020</p></td><td><p>62,528</p></td><td><p>20,478</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2020</p></td><td><p>66,271</p></td><td><p>21,156</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2020</p></td><td><p>69,993</p></td><td><p>21,915</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2020</p></td><td><p>73,126</p></td><td><p>22,390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2020</p></td><td><p>72,812</p></td><td><p>22,881</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This information is extracted from HMCTS case management systems and as management information, it is not subject to the same quality assurance process as official statistics. The latest HMCTS management information report (October 2020) can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-october-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-october-2020</a>.</p><p>The information relating to outstanding private family law case excludes applications made under the Family Law Act 1996. This information is not published.</p><p>Information about the volume of outstanding divorce applications each month is not published. However, this HMCTS management information report does contain other data about the management of divorce applications.</p> answering member printed Baroness Scott of Bybrook question first answered 04/01/2021 12:55:13 answering member 4553 label Biography information for Baroness Scott of Bybrook
tabling member	407 label Biography information for Baroness Taylor of Bolton

1271937

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Repossession Orders
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many house repossession claims were outstanding in each month since March this year.
tabling member printed	Baroness Taylor of Bolton
uin	HL11552
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/01/2021 answer text <p>The requested information is not held by HMCTS. Some possession claims do not progress because they have concluded by other means without the court being notified (for example because the Defendant has left the property or paid any arrears) and for this reason outstanding volumes cannot be calculated.</p> answering member printed Baroness Scott of Bybrook question first answered 04/01/2021 12:48:55 answering member 4553 label Biography information for Baroness Scott of Bybrook
tabling member	407 label Biography information for Baroness Taylor of Bolton

1271938

registered interest
date	16/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Standards
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what targets they have set, if any, for reducing the backlog of outstanding cases across courts and tribunals in England and Wales.
tabling member printed	Baroness Taylor of Bolton
uin	HL11553
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/01/2021 answer text <p>HMCTS has published an update on their response to Covid-19 in the criminal courts, Civil and Family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales, please see attached.</p><p>This provides a comprehensive update on recovery plans and the work being undertaken to restore capacity. This includes installing plexiglass screens to make the estate COVID-secure, recruiting additional staff and establishing Nightingale courts.</p> answering member printed Baroness Scott of Bybrook attachment 1 file name HMCTS_CFT_Recovery_Plan_v2b.pdf title Report 2 file name HMCTS401_recovery_overview_for_crime_WEB.pdf title Report2 question first answered 04/01/2021 12:50:28 answering member 4553 label Biography information for Baroness Scott of Bybrook
tabling member	407 label Biography information for Baroness Taylor of Bolton