Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on legal aid firms of (1) the stay on possession proceedings for tenants until the end of August, and (2) any subsequent substantial loss of income; and what steps they are taking to ensure that such firms are paid for their work in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Note 02/20: Supplier relief due to COVID-19, published on 20 March.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
MoJ is continuing to work closely with the Legal Aid Agency and HMCTS to assess the impact of Covid-19 on legal aid provision, and to support practitioners to work remotely when possible.
The Government have taken measures to support the sector include paying for virtual hearings in the same way as in-person hearings, halting pursuit of outstanding debts, relaxing some evidence requirements, and encouraging legal practitioners to use existing avenues of financial help, such as the ability to apply for early payment for work already done on a case. These measures will help Legal Aid providers adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
PN 02/20, which has been updated in PPN 04/20, requires contracting authorities to determine whether a supplier is ‘at risk’. In making that determination, an authority will need to consider what steps have been taken by a public-sector provider to access other available support, because providers have no automatic entitlement to relief payments under the PPN and should not use them to supplement or duplicate the wider support measures that have been made available to UK businesses.
Data on legal aid expenditure on areas such as housing possession is released quarterly by the Legal Aid Agency, with the next release scheduled for September.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will grant legal recognition to humanist marriages; and if not, what are the reasons for not doing so.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Law Commission review that the Government announced last month is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, we have invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will decide on provision on the basis of the Law Commission’s recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 1 February (HL4903), what conclusions the Race and Ethnicity Board has reached on how best to engage the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Following the publication of the Lammy Review last year, we are making efforts to explore and address specific disparities among the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities in the justice system, overseen by the Race and Ethnicity Board. Our ability to design and assess effective policies will be strengthened by engagement with representatives of GRT communities with direct experience of the justice system. To this end, we are establishing a dedicated stakeholder forum to inform, review and partner with on emerging work.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice is given to (1) judges and magistrates, and (2) those in judicial training, on alternatives to custodial sentencing for women who are given short sentences for non-violent offences, such as a requirement to attend women's community centres.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Sentencing is an independent judicial decision taken in each case based on the factors about the offence and offender available to the court, and the statutory framework laid down by Parliament. Judges and magistrates also take in to account relevant case law (notably there is detailed existing guidance on the sentencing of mothers i.e. Petherick [2012] EWCA Crim 2214) and any guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council, especially the guideline on imposition of community and custodial sentences.
The Judicial College uses sentencing exercises to give judges the opportunity to discuss the weight to be given to all relevant factors and the correct approach in making a decision. Chapter 6 of the Equal Treatment Bench Book considers “Gender” and sets out some of the impact issues of imprisonment on women. The National Probation Service can advise Courts of the local options for community orders for women.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of Gypsy and Traveller prisoners undertake vocational training courses while in prison.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Data on the proportion of Gypsy and Traveller prisoners that undertake vocational training courses whilst in English prisons is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
There is a wide range of vocational training available to prisoners. The prison governor is responsible for commissioning education and training based on the needs of learners in the prison establishment and the skills in demand by employers in the areas to which prisoners will be released.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Keen of Elie on 19 December 2017 (HLWS365), who are the members of the Race and Ethnicity Board of Senior Officials; and how they plan for the Board to take account of discrimination against gypsy, traveller and Roma people.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
As part of the Government’s response to the Lammy Review, we have set up a Race and Ethnicity Board to monitor our progress on the recommendations, and the wider agenda of race disparity. The Board is chaired by the Ministry of Justice Director General for Offender Reform and Commissioning, Justin Russell. Membership of the Board includes senior level representation from departmental policy groups and operational agencies such as HM Prison and Probation Service and HM Courts and Tribunal Service. There is also representation at an appropriate grade from other relevant Government departments and organisations including the Parole Board, Welsh Government and the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
The scope of the Board is the same as the Lammy Review, therefore due consideration will be given to the issues experienced by the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma community. The Board has already met and is considering how best to engage the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what training, if any, magistrates receive on the culture and ethnicity of gypsies and travellers.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Magistrates’ training is delivered on a local basis through HMCTS and in line with the National Minimum Training Provision which is agreed with the Judicial College. The Judicial College provides training for judges in accordance with the Lord Chief Justice’s statutory responsibility.
All magistrates take the judicial oath and the induction programme supports them to fulfil this. The College has not mandated any specific training for magistrates on the culture and ethnicity of Gypsies and Travellers, but it has published an Equal Treatment Bench Book which provides specific information about equality issues affecting Gypsies and Travellers and is available to all judges and magistrates.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recommendations made in the report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons of February 2014 reviewing the monitoring of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller prisoners.
Answered by Lord Faulks
I welcome the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, People in Prison: Gypsies, Romany and Travellers.
Meeting the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) prisoners has traditionally been challenging due to very low declaration rates. To address this, and to improve the support received by them, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has carried out work to increase the confidence of these prisoners to declare their ethnicity.
In March 2014, NOMS implemented a new tool to monitor various outcomes for prisoners against a range of protected characteristics, including GRT prisoners. This has proved to be successful and declaration rates have increased. The tool allows NOMS to better understand where gaps in services for GRT prisoners are, and for services to be commissioned where appropriate.
NOMS has worked closely with organisations such as the Friends Family and Travellers and the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain to provide information to staff and prisoners regarding best practice when working with GRT prisoners.
The Youth Justice Board (YJB) commissioned and jointly published (with HMIP) the report: 'Children and Young People in Custody 2012-13: An Analysis of 12-18 year olds' perceptions of their experience in secure training centres'. This was the first published annual summary of children and young people's self-reported experiences and perceptions from surveys carried out with young people in each of the four Secure Training Centres (STCs). The YJB will continue to commission these reports and monitor the findings from this survey in future years to gain a better understanding of the representation GRT young people within STCs.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their legislative plans to allow humanist marriages now that the public consultation is closed.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Government is carefully considering the analysis of the responses we have received and the implications for marriage law and practice if a change were to be made to legislation. We plan to publish the Government’s response to the review by 1 January 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recommendations in the report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons <i>People in prison: Gypsies, Romany and Travellers </i>that there should be further research into the reasons why people from those communities are in prison and how they are supported; and that the number of young people of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller background in Secure Training Centres should be investigated.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Ministry of Justice is considering how best to take forward Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report recommendation for research into the reasons why people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities are in prison.
To address the historically low declaration rates of GRT prisoners and to improve the support received by GRT prisoners, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has carried out extensive work to increase the declaration rates of GRT prisoners including work to increase the confidence of GRT prisoners to declare their ethnicity.
In March 2014, NOMS implemented a new tool to monitor various outcomes for prisoners against a range of protected characteristics, including GRT prisoners. NOMS is now monitoring outcomes for this group of prisoners.
The Youth Justice Board (YJB) commissioned and jointly published (with HMIP) the report: 'Children and Young People in Custody 2012-13: An Analysis of 12-18 year olds' perceptions of their experience in secure training centres'. This was the first published annual summary of children and young people's self-reported experiences and perceptions from surveys carried out with young people in each of the four Secure Training Centres (STCs).
The YJB will continue to commission these reports and monitor the findings from this survey in future years to gain a better understanding of the representation GRT young people within STCs.