Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about the resources available to the Criminal Cases Review Commission; and what has been their response.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We are aware that the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice, set up by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice, has made recommendations regarding the funding of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
The funding allocation the CCRC is reviewed each year internally within MoJ – and in consultation with the CCRC itself – as part of setting budgets. At each Spending Review the overall MoJ budget is reviewed with HM Treasury. Annual budgets for departments and their Arm’s Length Bodies are part of the Main Estimate, which is laid before Parliament each year by HM Treasury.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the report of the Independent Review of Administrative Law.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Government published the report of the Independent Review of Administrative Law on 18 March. At the same time, it published its response to the report in the form of a consultation document seeking views on a range of proposals for reforming Judicial Review.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - 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 24 February (HL1472), why they have no current plans to review Part Three of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
Part 3 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (“LASPO”) makes a series of amendments to the existing sentencing and release framework, very few of which are standalone provisions. Furthermore, some of the LASPO provisions have subsequently been amended, or even repealed. It would therefore be difficult to isolate the impact of the amendments brought in by LASPO from the impact of other provisions, or to identify a causal link between the specific LASPO changes and wider factors in crime and sentencing.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to undertake a review of Part Three of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
There are no current plans to review Part Three of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many statutory instruments from the Ministry of Justice have been laid this calendar year; of those, what percentage corrected errors in a previous instrument (including drafts of affirmative instruments that had to be superseded by correcting drafts); and what steps that Department is taking to reduce the need for correcting instruments.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Ministry of Justice laid 80 statutory instruments between the start of the calendar year and 25 July 2014. The Ministry of Justice does not keep records of which statutory instruments corrected errors in previous instruments. However, it estimates that 3 instruments (less than 4% of the total) were expressed to be correcting errors made in, in consequence of a defect in, or in substitution of, a previous instrument and were as a result issued free of charge to known recipients of the original instrument.
The Ministry of Justice is strongly committed to improving the quality of statutory instrument drafting. In addition to providing training to relevant staff and adopting rigorous checking process (including a requirement that all instruments are subject to a second and third pair of eyes check by a lawyer who has not drafted the instrument), a new post of Statutory Instrument Co-ordinator has been established within the Legal Directorate to co-ordinate the sharing of best practice. The Ministry of Justice will also be participating in work being led by the Treasury Solicitor and First Parliamentary Counsel to enhance further the quality, consistency and effectiveness of statutory instruments across Government.