Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to review the sentencing of those currently in the prison system serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Following their inquiry into the continued existence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) published their report which included a recommendation that the Government conduct a resentencing exercise of all remaining IPP sentences. The Government is carefully considering all the recommendations in the JSC report and will respond shortly.
The Government is focused on the successful rehabilitation of IPP prisoners and is working jointly with the Parole Board to realise this goal via the IPP Action Plan. This approach is working; the number of IPP prisoners who have never been released stood at 1,437 in September 2022, down from over 6,000 at its peak in 2012. The JSC also recommended that HMPPS review and update the IPP Action Plan; this work is now underway.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement to clarify the definition of a 'lawyer' to include patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys to ensure that an attorney whose title is acquired in the UK is not disadvantaged in relation to an attorney whose title is acquired in the EU.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Future Relationship Act received Royal Assent on 31 December 2020 and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement is now enshrined into UK law. There are no plans to amend this agreement with respect to the definition of a ‘lawyer’.
The legal services practice rights captured in the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement are a novel provision covering policy areas where the EU was reluctant to take on new commitments. The government’s policy intention in respect of these provisions was to secure commitment to home title practice rights in home and international law for those within the scope of the EU’s lawyer-related directives. This scope does not include patent or trade mark attorneys.
Recognising the sector’s concerns in this area, the government has amended the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) address for service rules to remove reference to the EEA. This means that, since 1 January 2021, only a UK, Gibraltar, Isle of Man or Channel Island address for service is accepted for new applications and requests to start contentious proceedings before the IPO.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make provisions in order to ensure that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights applies in the UK after Brexit; and if so, what provisions they intend to make.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The UK has a longstanding tradition of ensuring our rights and liberties are protected domestically and of fulfilling our international human rights obligations. The decision to leave the European Union does not change this.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights was created by the EU as a means of cataloguing rights that already existed in EU law. These rights will be converted into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill at the point we exit the EU.
In addition, many of the rights contained in the Charter are also protected in other international instruments, notably the European Convention on Human Rights, which is given further effect by the HRA 1998.
The Government’s intention is that our domestic law will preserve the substantive rights from which individuals already benefit in the UK, and therefore it is not necessary to retain the Charter in UK law after exit.