Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform the rules regarding judicial review.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
In March and April this year the Government consulted on reforms to judicial review, taking account of the excellent work of the Independent Review of Administrative Law chaired by Lord Faulks.
The Government’s response to the consultation, published in July, confined itself to the matters of substantive law reform raised in the consultation and explained the rationale for the judicial review measures contained in the Judicial Review and Courts Bill.
The Government has yet to publish a response which deals with the proposed changes to the Civil Procedure Rules on which it consulted. It will do so in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform human rights legislation.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
As the Deputy Prime Minister has set out, we will overhaul the Human Rights Act (HRA) to end its abuse by dangerous criminals and restore common sense to our justice system. In line with our manifesto commitment we will make sure it meets the needs of the society it serves and commands public support. The Government established the Independent Human Rights Act Review to examine the framework of the HRA, how it is operating in practice and whether any change is required. We have received the Panel’s report and are carefully considering its conclusions as part of a wider reform programme. We will publish the Panel’s report in due course and will consult on any proposed legislative changes.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection for prisoners imprisoned prior to 2012.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The IPP sentence was abolished in late 2012 by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. This did not apply retrospectively as the Government at the time took the view it would not be right to alter sentences that had been lawfully imposed having regard to an assessment of dangerousness; re-sentencing these offenders would undermine public protection and result in high risk prisoners being released into the community, thereby exposing the public to considerable risk of serious harm. Therefore, those who received an IPP sentence will continue to serve their IPP sentence.
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) remains committed to supporting the progression of all serving the IPP sentence, whether in prison or in the community. There has been a substantial reduction in the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released, from over 6,000 in 2012 to 1,784 at the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Safety in custody quarterly: update to December 2020, published on 29 April, what steps they are taking to address self-harm in women’s prisons.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We recognise that the level of self-harm in the women’s estate is too high and are determined to reduce this. A task force was set up in April 2020 in response to our increasing concerns about the level of self-harm in the women’s estate. We know that many of the drivers and protective factors linked to women’s risk of self-harm in prisons have been affected by Covid-19 and the restricted regimes that have been put in place to control the spread of infection.
The task force worked to introduce a number of specific interventions to counteract the impact of Covid-19 on the women’s estate, including bespoke well-being checks, increased phone credit and more access to video calls with family and friends.
We have prioritised women’s prisons for the roll out of the revised version of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) multi-disciplinary case management system used in prisons to support people at risk of suicide and self-harm. We also introduced the Offender Management in Custody model in the female estate in April. This will provide each woman with a dedicated key worker or equivalent who will be able to better support them and identify concerns at an early stage so that women can receive the right support at the right time.
We have produced a range of products to support Governors in devising and implementing local safety and welfare plans designed to mitigate risks and promote wellbeing. We have developed new guidance for staff on understanding and supporting someone who is self-harming. We continue to make the Samaritans phone service available and are working with this charity to ensure that the Listener peer support scheme continues to function effectively.
Importantly, we have also invested £5m in alternatives to prison, including new women’s centres which help people address issues such as alcohol or drug addiction which leads them to crime.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to address so-called "legal advice deserts".
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We continue to work to ensure that civil legal aid advice remains accessible to those who need it. The Legal Aid Agency keeps market capacity under continual review to ensure adequate provision across England and Wales. Wherever you are in England and Wales, legal advice is available through the CLA telephone service.
We are currently considering the sustainability of the civil legal aid market broadly, looking at a range of factors, from the current remuneration rates, to the pipeline into a career in legal aid, as well as the ability of providers to offer legal aid services into the future. We intend to continue working very closely with stakeholders to increase our understanding of the challenges currently faced by the whole sector.
Legal Aid is central to access to justice, but it is only one part of a broader picture. We know that early intervention is key to help people resolve their legal problems as swiftly as possible, potentially without the need to receive legally aided advice or attend court at all. We are delivering pilots for early resolution of legal problems and to test what works. This includes looking at how we can improve signposting and enhance access to existing online and in person legal support services, and a targeted expansion of funding for early legal advice in a specific area of social welfare law to test its impact.
Charities in the advice sector play a crucial role to help people resolve their legal problems across England and Wales, which has been vital throughout Covid-19. MoJ has provided £5.4m in funding for not-for-profit providers of specialist legal advice. £3m was given to Law Centres and the remaining £2.4m to the Community Justice Fund administered by the Access to Justice Foundation. In 2020, we launched the two-year, £3.1m Legal Support for Litigants in Person Grant. We’re delighted to be working in partnership with the Access to Justice Foundation to deliver the grant, which is designed to fund services provided at local, regional and national levels with the aim of understanding more about how they can combine to help people.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the anonymity of victims of sexual assault.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Complainants in rape and sexual offence cases are protected by automatic reporting restrictions, which impose a lifetime ban on publishing any matter likely to identify a victim, from the moment the offence is reported. Anyone who publishes such material is liable to a fine.
Interfering with the administration of justice and publicly commenting on a court case on social media or other channels may lead to a charge for the more serious offence of contempt of court, for which the maximum penalty is 2 years’ imprisonment.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what changes they plan to make to the prison and probation systems to reduce re-offending.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
This Government is committed to reducing crime by tackling reoffending, which accounts for around 80% of cautioned or convicted crime. We are committed to keeping the public safe by addressing the complex issues that lead to offending, while also strengthening the supervision of offenders in the community and monitoring them more closely after they are released from prison to protect the public. Prison and probation provide an opportunity to address the complex drivers of reoffending which is why we will continue to not only recover from the pandemic but use this opportunity to reform and build back safer.
As announced in the Spending Review last year, we have committed over £4 billion funding to make significant progress in delivering 18,000 additional prison places across England and Wales, which forms a major part of our plans to transform the prison estate. These new prison places will provide safe, decent and secure environments to support the delivery of effective interventions to reduce reoffending.
Funding announced in January also demonstrates this Governments commitment to tackling some of the underlying causes of reoffending. It comprised:
As part of the £70 million package we are working collaboratively with 16 prisons to design, implement and test new processes and initiatives across accommodation, education, employment and substance misuse treatment. This is in addition to fulfilling the Government’s manifesto commitments around increasing the number of DWP prison work coaches and development of the Prison Education Service focused on employment and skills. By supporting people into a job, a home and treatment for substance misuse, we can help them escape the vicious cycle of crime and prevent victims.
Our reforms to probation, starting with the launch of the new unified Probation Service for England and Wales on 26 June this year, also aim to strengthen our approach to reducing reoffending. It will strengthen how offenders are supervised and supported to desist from offending through investment in more probation officers and better learning and development. It will improve how we address offending behaviour by bringing together and investing in behavioural change programmes and interventions. Probation regions will also be able to refer offenders to a range of organisations commissioned to deliver specialist rehabilitative services, such as accommodation support, education, training and employment, and support to address other issues such as access to mental health services or managing complex family relationships. 110 contracts are now in place across England and Wales to deliver these services from 26 June.
Together these important steps demonstrate this Government’s commitment to build back safer, fairer and stronger by reducing crime and tackling reoffending to protect the public.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the adequacy of support provided through the legal aid system for victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and we are determined to protect and support the victims of abuse and their children and bring perpetrators to justice.
The legal aid scheme is designed to target funding at those that need it most, and this government has always been clear that publicly-funded legal advice is available to victims of domestic abuse in private family proceedings and for specific domestic abuse injunctions, subject to certain criteria being met.
Legal aid is and remains available for the purpose of obtaining urgent protection, such as non-molestation orders, without any evidence requirements and the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has the power to waive all upper financial eligibility limits. This means victims can receive legal aid even if they would not otherwise pass the means test, though they may have to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs.
We recently widened the evidence requirements for domestic abuse victims, making it easier for victims to obtain and provide the evidence they need to access legal aid.
We are currently conducting a review of the means test, where we are specifically considering the experiences of victims of domestic abuse. The review is scheduled to conclude in Autumn 2021, at which point we will publish a full consultation paper.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards the restoration of the probation service in England and Wales to public ownership and control.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We are on track to launch a new unified Probation Service for England and Wales on 26 June this year. The new Service will bring together staff from the previous National Probation Service (NPS) and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and will strengthen public protection by bringing together management of offenders of all levels of risk into one organisation.
The new unified service will strengthen rehabilitation by delivering unpaid work and behavioural change programmes in England and Wales. Specialist organisations will continue to play a role in the probation system, delivering resettlement and rehabilitative services such as education, training and employment and accommodation and other rehabilitative interventions. 110 contracts are now in place for these commissioned services. We are also in the final stages of the estates and digital transfers needed to support transition.
Once we have completed transition to the new organisation, we will begin implementing the new operating model for the unified service. We have already recruited a record 1,000 new trainee probation officers in 2020/21 and plan to recruit a further 1,500 in this financial year.
Our progress in delivering these crucial reforms will ensure a joined up and improved Probation Service to cut crime and reduce reoffending, meet the needs of our communities, offer more support in rehabilitating offenders and protect the public from crime.