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1672810

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Family Courts: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's report entitled Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases, published in June 2020, what steps his Department plans to take to further engage children in family court proceedings.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	3594
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/11/2023 answer text <p>The welfare of the child is the family court’s paramount concern and any decisions about future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle.</p><p>In February 2022, we launched the Investigative Approach Pathfinder court pilot in Dorset and North Wales. This pilot aims to improve the experiences for children and their parents in private law proceedings and particularly those who may need additional support, such as domestic abuse survivors. A key part of this is a stronger ‘voice of the child’ approach to ensure that, where appropriate, children’s wishes and views are central to proceedings. Evaluation of the pilot is ongoing.</p><p>In May 2023, the government published an update to the Implementation Plan for the “Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases” report, which demonstrates the good progress we have made to date and reiterates our determination to continue to respond recommendations of the report.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 29/11/2023 12:49:25 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1672860

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: ICT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department spent on (a) current and (b) legacy IT infrastructure (i) in total and (ii) purchased in 2013 or earlier in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Reading East
tabling member printed	Matt Rodda
uin	3663
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>The spend by the Ministry of Justice on its IT infrastructure as set out in the question is provided in the table below, covering the previous three years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2020/21 costs</p></td><td><p>2021/22 costs</p></td><td><p>2022/23 costs</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Current IT infrastructure</p></td><td><p>£191,003,356</p></td><td><p>£186,076,175</p></td><td><p>£190,539,822</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>It has not been possible to separate out costs in a meaningful way between current and legacy systems, or identify costs for pre-2013 systems. This is due to both the complexity of the IT estate, which includes outsourced services, and the finance systems in use across the department not being set up to operate in that way that facilitates this.</p><p> </p><p>The costs in the table include the costs of networks, devices, voice and video infrastructure, print services, wifi, software licences that underpin the operation of the department (eg Oracle, Microsoft) and hosting. They do not include costs of bespoke software. The costs are the external (contract) costs to purchase infrastructure outright or as a service but do not include costs related to people or processes or documentation within MoJ.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice is actively managing its legacy estate and are either seeking to fund or are seeking to exit legacy systems via our existing change plans. The right approach varies: work under way includes upgrades, complete system replacements and migration to public cloud.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice regularly assesses the most critical services within its IT estate including those using legacy systems against its own framework. There is a significant programme of activity in place to mitigate these risks through decommissioning, migration to more modern environments and upgrades.</p><p>Earlier in 2023, an assessment was carried out on the top 10 most critical legacy IT systems. Out of these 10 systems, 5 were identified as red-rated IT systems as defined in the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework</p><p>The Ministry of Justice is in the process of assessing all of its critical systems against the CDDO framework which will provide data on how many of these are red-rated within this framework.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3664 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:52:47 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4654 label Biography information for Matt Rodda

1672861

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: ICT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the guidance by the Central Digital and Data Office entitled Guidance on the Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework, published on 29 September 2023, how many red-rated IT systems are used by their Department.
tabling member constituency	Reading East
tabling member printed	Matt Rodda
uin	3664
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>The spend by the Ministry of Justice on its IT infrastructure as set out in the question is provided in the table below, covering the previous three years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2020/21 costs</p></td><td><p>2021/22 costs</p></td><td><p>2022/23 costs</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Current IT infrastructure</p></td><td><p>£191,003,356</p></td><td><p>£186,076,175</p></td><td><p>£190,539,822</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>It has not been possible to separate out costs in a meaningful way between current and legacy systems, or identify costs for pre-2013 systems. This is due to both the complexity of the IT estate, which includes outsourced services, and the finance systems in use across the department not being set up to operate in that way that facilitates this.</p><p> </p><p>The costs in the table include the costs of networks, devices, voice and video infrastructure, print services, wifi, software licences that underpin the operation of the department (eg Oracle, Microsoft) and hosting. They do not include costs of bespoke software. The costs are the external (contract) costs to purchase infrastructure outright or as a service but do not include costs related to people or processes or documentation within MoJ.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice is actively managing its legacy estate and are either seeking to fund or are seeking to exit legacy systems via our existing change plans. The right approach varies: work under way includes upgrades, complete system replacements and migration to public cloud.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice regularly assesses the most critical services within its IT estate including those using legacy systems against its own framework. There is a significant programme of activity in place to mitigate these risks through decommissioning, migration to more modern environments and upgrades.</p><p>Earlier in 2023, an assessment was carried out on the top 10 most critical legacy IT systems. Out of these 10 systems, 5 were identified as red-rated IT systems as defined in the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) Legacy IT Risk Assessment Framework</p><p>The Ministry of Justice is in the process of assessing all of its critical systems against the CDDO framework which will provide data on how many of these are red-rated within this framework.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3663 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:52:47 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4654 label Biography information for Matt Rodda

1672875

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Immigration
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to increase the legal (a) aid and (b) advice provision for individuals with (i) immigration and (ii) refugee law queries in (A) Plymouth and (B) the South West.
tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
uin	3672
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.</p><p>Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response</a>), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023</a>). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3673 3674 3675 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:55:15 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard

1672876

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Immigration
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the remote provision of immigration and asylum advice; and whether he has carried out an Equality Impact Assessment on the remote provision of such advice.
tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
uin	3673
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.</p><p>Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response</a>), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023</a>). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3672 3674 3675 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:55:16 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard

1672877

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Asylum
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of asylum seekers who have had access to confidential remote legal advice in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
uin	3674
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.</p><p>Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response</a>), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023</a>). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3672 3673 3675 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:55:16 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard

1672878

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Asylum
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of remote advice provision in asylum seeker accommodation sites.
tabling member constituency	Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport
tabling member printed	Luke Pollard
uin	3675
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of England; the list is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration) so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in relation to that notice.</p><p>Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact assessment (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response</a>), a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone. The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1 and 6.2 in the tables published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023</a>). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests. In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 3672 3673 3674 question first answered 04/12/2023 16:55:16 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4682 label Biography information for Luke Pollard

1672912

registered interest
date	24/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Public Expenditure
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which spending programmes their Department devolves for administration to (a) local government in England and (b) other local spending bodies; and what the budget is of each such programme for each year for which budgets are agreed.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hodge Hill
tabling member printed	Liam Byrne
uin	3588
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>The MoJ does not devolve any spending programmes.</p><p>However, the MoJ does provide grant funding as below:</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Budgeted Grants Figures 2022/2023</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Grant type</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Amount</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>YOT</p></td><td><p>£88,483,459.00</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>PCC</p></td><td><p>£136,527,593.19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Section 31</p></td><td><p>£5,930,576.00</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 04/12/2023 16:51:29 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1171 label Biography information for Liam Byrne

1672748

registered interest
date	23/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Marriage
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department's timetable is for publishing an interim response to the report published by the Law Commission entitled Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law.
tabling member constituency	St Ives
tabling member printed	Derek Thomas
uin	3526
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2023 answer text <p>Marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, and the Government has a duty to consider the implications of any changes to the law in this area very carefully.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is considering the Law Commissions’ 57 recommendations for legislative reform and a response will be published in due course.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 30/11/2023 17:21:43 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4532 label Biography information for Derek Thomas

1672145

registered interest
date	22/11/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Rape: Convictions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase conviction rates for rape.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	3225
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2023 answer text <p>The Government does not seek to influence the outcome of trial processes, which are underpinned by judicial independence and the right to a fair trial. Instead, through our Rape Review Action Plan, we are delivering a programme of work to significantly increase the number of adult rape cases reaching court.</p><p>We have already exceeded each of our ambitions to return the number of adult rape cases referred by the police, charged by the CPS and reaching court to 2016 levels ahead of schedule, with the number of adult rape cases reaching court now 13% higher than in 2016. In addition, the latest data shows that prosecutions and convictions for adult rape have increased on the previous year, with prosecutions volumes now higher than they were in 2010, when we came into Government.</p><p>But we are determined to go further. We continue to deliver a range of actions that will allow us to go further in increasing the number of adult rape cases reaching court. This includes:</p><ul><li>Through Operation Soteria, we are transforming the way that the police investigate an CPS prosecute adult rape, focusing on suspect behaviour over victim credibility through our new, transformative National Operating Models.</li><li>Having recruited 20,000 new police officers, bringing the total number to a record peak, we will train over 2,000 officers to become specialist rape investigators by April 2024, making sure the police have the skills and resources to deal with these complex cases.</li><li>We are quadrupling victims funding by 2024/25, up from £41 million in 2009/10, which will enable us to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisors by 300 to over 1,000 – a 43% increase by 2024/5.</li><li>Our national rollout of pre-recorded cross examination for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences is being used in over 150 cases per month, sparing victims from the glare of court and ensuring they can give their best evidence.</li><li>And to ensure we reduce victim attrition, we have made great strides in tackling the intrusive investigation process. This includes our commitment to no adult rape victim being left without a phone for more than 24 hours, as well as legislating to ensure that police requests for Third Party Materials are only made by the police when it is necessary and proportionate to do so.</li></ul> answering member constituency Newbury answering member printed Laura Farris question first answered 30/11/2023 16:55:05 answering member 4826 label Biography information for Laura Farris
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon