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 question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1662928

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Drugs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to (a) review the effectiveness of substance free living units and (b) make an assessment of the potential merits of extending those units across all prison estates.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	200782
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2023 answer text <p>As part of the ambitious cross-Government Drug Strategy, we are rolling out a range of interventions to support prisoners off drugs and into recovery. This includes expanding the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living Units where prisoners commit to remaining free of illicit drugs, with regular drug testing and incentives. We now have over 60 of these wings across the estate, and are aiming to reach up to 100 by March 2025. This will dramatically expand the number of prisoners who have access to these wings. Alongside this we are working to evaluate ISFLs to improve our understanding of the impact they are having and the experience of prisoners on these wings.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 23/10/2023 15:44:50 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1609125

registered interest
date	30/03/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Bolton
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the size of the backlog of criminal court cases in Bolton.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	177751
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2023 answer text <p>The number of outstanding cases at the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court are routinely published as part of the National Statistics release Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly. The latest published data is available to December 2022 and can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2022" target="_blank">Criminal court statistics quarterly: October to December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>. For Crown Court, figures are published specifically for Bolton. For magistrates’ courts, the Greater Manchester Local Justice Area is the closest match available.</p><p>The published data for the Crown Court are found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1146768/cc_rdos_tool.xlsx" target="_blank">Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool</a>, and the published data for the magistrates’ court are found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1146766/mags_rdos_tool.xlsx" target="_blank">Magistrates' courts cases received, disposed and outstanding tool</a>.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 19/04/2023 07:51:53 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1568319

registered interest
date	18/01/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Judiciary: Racial Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to recommendations of the report by the University of Manchester entitled Racial Bias and the Bench, published in November 2022, if he will make it his policy to publish (a) the Judicial Executive Board report into judicial bullying and racism and (b) all reports and research commissioned by his Department into the judiciary.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	126581
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ), as Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales has responsibility for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary of England and Wales. The LCJ carries out these responsibilities through the Judicial Executive Board (JEB) and the Judges’ Council. To protect the independence of the judiciary, it is a matter for the judiciary to determine which judiciary commissioned reports are published.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 24/01/2023 10:19:02 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1470701

registered interest
date	15/06/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Criminal Proceedings: Bolton
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 size of the criminal case backlog in Bolton.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	18866
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting the recovery of the courts. We recognise that the impact of the pandemic in courts has been uneven across the country, with the North West being one of the areas experiencing a greater increase in caseload.</p><p>At the end of December 2021, the outstanding caseload in the Greater Manchester Local Criminal Justice Board was 3,016 and at Bolton Crown Court, it was 478. There were 58,818 outstanding cases nationally. There will always be outstanding cases as these figures include cases that are being prepared to be heard in the courts.</p><p>In order to tackle the backlog in cases, we have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022. The closest Nightingale court is at Leeds Combined Court, which offers 3 additional criminal courtrooms. We have also opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.</p><p>We are also working with the judiciary to explore moving cases across regional boundaries to areas with spare capacity, where appropriate, and using a national, flexible pool of judges for some regions, including the North West, to draw from as required.</p><p>I also engage regularly with other key stakeholders in the North West, focusing on how we can deliver further progress in addressing the outstanding caseload and similar challenges. For example, I recently met with Andrew Pratt, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, and chair of the Local Criminal Justice Board, and we discussed how the Government’s increased funding for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors was enabling the local CJS to deliver better support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.</p><p>We have once again removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for this financial year to allow courts to work at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. To secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/23 and beyond we are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment.</p><p>These measures are already working, and as a result we expect to get through 20% more Crown Court cases this financial year than we did pre-Covid. Following an increase in funding as part of the Ministry of Justice’s Spending Review settlement, we aim to reduce the number of outstanding cases in the Crown Court to 53,000 by March 2025.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 24/06/2022 11:36:18 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1470702

registered interest
date	15/06/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Bolton
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what percentage of defendants in Bolton require legal aid in their legal proceedings.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	18867
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2022 answer text <p>The requested information is not centrally recorded. The Legal Aid Agency monitors access to public funding according to the location of the legal representative providing the service. Client location and court venue are not reliably captured for the majority of the criminal legal aid scheme and therefore accurate data based on these proxies is not available.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 23/06/2022 14:01:07 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1433722

registered interest
date	21/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Sentences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to review imprisonment for public protection sentences.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	126610
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2022 answer text <p>The Government keeps the operation of sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) under constant review. This includes continuing to ensure that IPP prisoners, as well as all prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, have every opportunity to progress towards safe release. This approach is working, with high numbers of unreleased IPP prisoners achieving a release decision each year. The number of IPP prisoners who have never been released stood at 1,602 on 31 December 2021, down from over 6,000 at its peak.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has brought forward an amendment relating to IPP licence terminations as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill, which is currently before Parliament. IPP offenders are eligible for Parole Board consideration of whether their IPP licence should be terminated, once 10 years has elapsed since their first release. The Bill will require the Secretary of State to refer all eligible IPP offenders to the Parole Board for consideration of licence termination. This will ensure that eligible IPP offenders have every opportunity to have their licence terminated.</p><p> </p><p>The Government welcomes the Justice Select Committee inquiry into the IPP sentence and will carefully consider the recommendations in the final report.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 01/03/2022 17:56:54 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1367425

registered interest
date	09/11/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts
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 tackle the rise of cases being withdrawn due to court delays and case backlogs.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	72386
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2021 answer text <p>We continue to take action to tackle the impact the pandemic has had on our criminal justice system.</p><p> </p><p>We have allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery in the last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including retaining 32 Nightingale Court rooms until the end of March 2022.</p><p> </p><p>We are now focused both on increasing capacity of the criminal courts and maximising use of that which we already have in areas where it is needed most. There is no limit on the number of days Crown Courts can sit this financial year. The department is also working closely with the judiciary to ensure we have the capacity required to maximise the number of court hearings taking place this year and to minimise disruption to cases listed for hearings.</p><p> </p><p>The Spending Review will also provide an extra £477m for the criminal justice system to meet the increased demand from additional police officers and to recover performance following the pandemic.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 19/11/2021 12:14:21 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1367468

registered interest
date	09/11/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison and Probation Service: Pay
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 effect on (a) recruitment, (b) morale and (c) retention of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service staff of the Government’s pay policy for public-sector workers.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	72391
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2021 answer text <p>Pay awards for this financial year across HMPPS are subject to the public sector pay pause, introduced by the Chancellor in 2020. This has assisted Government in protecting public sector jobs and investment in public services as Covid-19 continues to have an impact.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State announced the prison pay award on 19 October, which delivered a pay increase of £250 to those earning less than £24,000, and progression pay of up to 5% for those who are eligible. Even with the restrictions of public sector pay policy for this year, this year’s award sees over half of prison service staff receive an increase to their pay. My Department is also currently engaging with our recognised trade unions on the 2021/22 pay award for the Probation Service, which – like the prison pay award – will be backdated to April 2021.</p><p> </p><p>I welcome the Chancellor’s recent budget announcement regarding public sector pay, which will see public sector pay from 2022 return to a normal pay setting process. Following this announcement, we are developing proposals for a pay and reward package for all our staff over the coming years.</p><p><br> Recruitment and retention and morale are driven by a range of factors, including pay, staff health and wellbeing, leadership and line management, and how safe, secure and supported officers feel at work. When making decisions over pay, it is important that the department balances investment proportionally across these issues.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 19/11/2021 13:04:37 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1367470

registered interest
date	09/11/2021
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: ICT
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 effectiveness of the HM Courts and Tribunal Service Common Platform roll-out.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	72392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2021 answer text <p>The Common Platform will help make the criminal justice system more efficient, effective, timely, transparent and resilient for everyone. It is replacing a network of existing systems in both the Crown and Magistrates’ Courts that are coming to the end of their life and will no longer be fit for purpose in a modern court system. It is central to the wider HMCTS reform programme, and vital to bringing about improvements for collecting and managing data.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 19/11/2021 12:11:59 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi

1179218

registered interest
date	21/02/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Crown Court
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown court cases have been listed for mention in each of the last 18 months.
tabling member constituency	Bolton South East
tabling member printed	Yasmin Qureshi
uin	18552
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2020 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of cases which have been listed for mention in the Crown court over the last 18 months:</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>April 2018 - September 2019</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Cases</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-18</p></td><td><p>4588</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-18</p></td><td><p>4423</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-18</p></td><td><p>4442</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-18</p></td><td><p>4562</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-18</p></td><td><p>4352</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>4318</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-18</p></td><td><p>4874</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-18</p></td><td><p>4801</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-18</p></td><td><p>3517</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-19</p></td><td><p>4601</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-19</p></td><td><p>4228</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-19</p></td><td><p>4529</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-19</p></td><td><p>4254</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-19</p></td><td><p>4565</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-19</p></td><td><p>4198</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-19</p></td><td><p>4710</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-19</p></td><td><p>4212</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-19</p></td><td><p>4298</p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p><strong>1. These data has been extracted from the Crown Court Xhibit database, and run until September-19 in line with published data.</strong></p><p><strong>2. Xhibit is a live system and data can change over time.</strong></p><p><strong>3. The hearing codes used to extract these data are those recorded by the court listing officer and reflect the hearing type as shown on the daily list. </strong></p><p><strong>4. If a case has two or more hearings within the same month it has only been counted once. Should the hearings be on different months they have been counted in each month.</strong></p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 26/02/2020 17:51:56 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	3924 label Biography information for Yasmin Qureshi