Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Legal Aid Agency has provided funding for John Downey.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
John Downey was granted legal aid to fund his representation in relation to the prosecution brought against him in 2013.
Anyone facing a Crown Court trial is eligible for legal aid, subject to a strict means test. Applicants who meet the relevant means thresholds may still be required to pay a significant contribution towards the costs of their defence.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will add the Professional Paralegal Register to the statutory list of approved regulators under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Government values the role paralegals play.
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government, and under the Legal Services Act 2007, only a person authorised by an approved regulator may provide a reserved legal activity.
The 2007 Act provides the powers for the Legal Services Board to make recommendations to government for bodies to be designated as approved regulators, and it has not made a recommendation in respect of the Professional Paralegal Register. The government has no plans to make such a designation without having had a recommendation.
My department has not had any recent discussions with representatives of paralegals about either their approach to sector self-regulation or the possibility of the Professional Paralegal Register being designated as an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the Professional Paralegal Register on the level of registration on that register since that body was created.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Government values the role paralegals play.
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government, and under the Legal Services Act 2007, only a person authorised by an approved regulator may provide a reserved legal activity.
The 2007 Act provides the powers for the Legal Services Board to make recommendations to government for bodies to be designated as approved regulators, and it has not made a recommendation in respect of the Professional Paralegal Register. The government has no plans to make such a designation without having had a recommendation.
My department has not had any recent discussions with representatives of paralegals about either their approach to sector self-regulation or the possibility of the Professional Paralegal Register being designated as an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions she has had with (a) representatives of the paralegal profession, (b) the Professional Paralegal Register and (c) the Institute of Paralegals on the effectiveness of the registration system for that profession.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Government values the role paralegals play.
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government, and under the Legal Services Act 2007, only a person authorised by an approved regulator may provide a reserved legal activity.
The 2007 Act provides the powers for the Legal Services Board to make recommendations to government for bodies to be designated as approved regulators, and it has not made a recommendation in respect of the Professional Paralegal Register. The government has no plans to make such a designation without having had a recommendation.
My department has not had any recent discussions with representatives of paralegals about either their approach to sector self-regulation or the possibility of the Professional Paralegal Register being designated as an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to increase diversity in (a) the legal sector and (b) among paralegals.
Answered by Oliver Heald
Our world-leading legal services industry is based on the talent of those who work within in. We want to do more to encourage talented people from all backgrounds to succeed in the profession.
There is already a good framework in place. The Legal Services Board and Approved Regulators have a duty to promote competition in the provision of regulated legal services, and encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession, and the LSB has recently consulted on how this can be better delivered. The Institute of Paralegals is an independent, non-statutory body that paralegals can choose to become members of. It sets standards and promotes its members as professional paralegals and has created the Professional Access Scheme which brings together various initiatives designed to widen access to legal careers, increase diversity within the sector and provide better careers information.
The Lord Chancellor has met with the legal profession on a number of occasions to discuss how best to advance diversity, notably a recent roundtable of City firms, the Bar and the Senior judiciary. She has made it clear that widening the talent pool, including identifying opportunities to improve social empowerment and mobility for those wishing to enter the legal profession is one of her main priorities.
A series of cross sector working groups are being established to progress a number of key work strands, one of which will specifically consider how to further improve diversity in the legal sector.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government plans to (a) privatise and (b) increase the private involvement in the running of HM Prison Brixton.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are investing £1.3 billion to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. We will build new prisons and close prisons that are in poor condition and those which do not have a long-term future in the estate. We will also simplify the organisation of the estate so prisoners are placed at the right level of security in prisons with appropriately tailored regimes. This will ensure that the supply of places providing rehabilitation and resettlement services, and those that serve the courts, are balanced with demand.
We want to make sure that our prisons are run in the most effective way to achieve our reforms. We are currently considering how best to reorganise the prison estate as a whole to achieve this goal, and will announce our plans in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has for the future of HM Prison Brixton.
Answered by Phillip Lee
We are investing £1.3 billion to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. We will build new prisons and close prisons that are in poor condition and those which do not have a long-term future in the estate. We will also simplify the organisation of the estate so prisoners are placed at the right level of security in prisons with appropriately tailored regimes. This will ensure that the supply of places providing rehabilitation and resettlement services, and those that serve the courts, are balanced with demand.
We want to make sure that our prisons are run in the most effective way to achieve our reforms. We are currently considering how best to reorganise the prison estate as a whole to achieve this goal, and will announce our plans in due course.