Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support greater use of early interventions for those in the criminal justice system to prevent recidivism.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Beating Crime Plan 2021 highlighted the importance of early intervention for all young people; targeted support for those at risk of involvement in criminality; and targeted interventions for those who have started to offend. Intervening earlier is more effective, and cheaper.
It is better for children that they do not enter the justice system at all, and that is why my department works with partners across government to support the design, delivery and evaluation of programmes which provide help earlier on. For example, the Supporting Families programme shows a return on investment of £2.28 for every £1 spent, and an 18% reduction in juvenile convictions and 38% reduction in juvenile prison sentences.
To further build up the evidence base, and support innovative projects targeted at children on the cusp of the justice system, we are also providing £5m for 200 voluntary and community projects. These will engage children at risk of involvement in crime through mentoring and sport activities, with the aim of reducing crime in local communities.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure barrister strikes do not delay the administration of justice.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It remains our priority to ensure that justice is served, and we will continue to encourage the Criminal Bar Association to work with us – the decrease in the Crown Court backlog shows what is possible when we work together.
It is disappointing that the Criminal Bar Association are progressing this type of action, considering less than 50% of CBA members voted in support of the option likely to cause the most disruption.
On 30 June, Minister Cartlidge announced our commitment to laying a statutory instrument necessary to effect the fee increases by 21 July, alongside an interim government response to the consultation on the Independent Review.
We are acting to mitigate the impact of the CBA strikes on a daily basis. This includes Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service working closely with the judiciary to ensure that cases are listed in a way which minimises disruption.
We continue to support the independent judiciary in their efforts to minimise disruption felt as a result of CBA action. Ministers continue to engage regularly with the Senior Presiding Judge to understand the impact in the courts.
The Public Defender Service is providing advocacy support, where possible, to cases that have been impacted by the CBA action. The Legal Aid Agency has also established a Crown Court Representation Helpline to make the process of identifying higher court advocates easier for providers who may be impacted by barristers declining to accept returns.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an immediate 25 per cent increase in legal aid fees.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is consulting on a package of proposals which includes a 15% uplift on fees across most legal aid fee schemes. This, alongside the longer-term reforms we propose, will increase spend by up to £135m a year - taking expected criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent people from taking advantage of vulnerable people by obtaining Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs).
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Lasting powers of attorney (LPA) offer vital protections where someone lacks the mental capacity to make their own decisions. My department recently consulted on how to increase safeguards for vulnerable people during their creation and this is set out in the Government response which was published on 19 May 2022. Copies are available in the House Library.
Proposals include the introduction of identification checks to deter fraud and improvements to the witnessing and objection processes to protect donors against abuse and undue pressure.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to close the attainment gap between white students and ethnic minority students who pass the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) introduced the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), as a new assessment for all individuals seeking to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. The first sitting of the first part of the exam (SQE1) was held in November 2021, and the results were published on 20 January 2022.
In light of experience from the former Legal Practice Course and the SQE pilots, the SRA has commissioned the University of Exeter to look at the possible causes of attainment gap in professional legal assessment. They will look widely at evidence from other regulated professions, from within universities as well as patterns of attainment at earlier stages of education. The SRA is expecting interim findings towards the end of this year and a final report towards the end of 2023. We will continue to engage with the SRA as it monitors performance in the assessments by individuals with certain protected characteristics and addresses any future negative trends in attainment.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide extra Nightingale court capacity in order to address the backlog of legal cases.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
As part of the Spending Review we announced that we will be investing £477 million in the Criminal Justice System over the next three years. This will help to meet the increased demand from the additional police officers, reduce the backlog and deliver the swift access to justice that victims deserve.
Analysis suggests this new investment could both improve waiting times and significantly reduce the number of outstanding cases by the end of the spending review period, ensuring that we do right by victims of crime.
The Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunals Service are working together to determine the optimal allocation of funding secured at the Spending Review for 2022/23 and beyond, including the spend on physical capacity to support the continuing recovery of court performance. This process is set to conclude in early 2022.
Our decisive action in the courts kept justice moving during the pandemic.
We allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds to support recovery in the last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff, and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including retaining 32 Crown jury courtrooms until the end of March 2022.
These measures are already working. The caseload in the Crown court has stabilised at around 60,000 cases, and we are listing over a thousand cases each week.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable those pursuing claims through the Windrush Compensation Scheme to receive legal aid.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The government has noted the recommendation of the Home Affairs Select Committee to consider the provision of specialist legal advice for applicants to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, potentially funded through legal aid. While we have no existing plans to expand the scope of the legal aid scheme to cover the Windrush Compensation Scheme, we will consider the recommendation in full and respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of employment hubs in prisons.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The MoJ, working with DWP, is committed to improving the employment outcomes of prisoners on release. To enable this, employment hubs have been set up within some prisons to mirror job centres in the community. It is intended that the hubs will help prisoners obtain information and advice for employment related matters before release.
HMPPS’ New Futures Network, which acts as a broker for finding job opportunities on release, has worked with a range of partners to establish Employment Hubs – first in six prisons in the North West regions, and gradually in further prisons across the estate.
The Hubs will help to better identify and match vacancies to the serving prisoners who are ready to take on employment when they are released. They will do this by advertising job vacancies, improving communications and sharing physical spaces for the various teams and providers to work together.
Currently, there are 9 Employment Hubs that are fully operational. A further 19 Hubs are running ‘limited operations’ including HMP Brixton. 23 hubs are not yet operational including HMP Belmarsh, but development work is ongoing. Timescales for delivery are varied.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce delays to court cases arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
We are keenly aware of the need to improve timeliness for both defendants and victims, and mitigate the impact of delays on victims and witnesses. Judges have been prioritising the most serious cases throughout the pandemic, including those involving vulnerable victims and witnesses as well as those with defendants nearing custody time limits.
We will continue to do more, and the recovery of our courts to full operational capacity is our highest priority in order to reduce waiting times within the justice system. The steps taken so far – to adjust court rooms to hold Covid-secure trials, to open more court rooms, and to move to virtual hearings where possible – have helped. Crown Court disposals increased from June 2020 and were higher than pre-Covid levels for the first two weeks of 2021. The increase has slowed slightly, with disposals throughout February consistently 5% below the pre-Covid baseline, and the outstanding caseload in Magistrates’ courts has reduced from the peak reached in August. As of the end of March 2021, we have created a total of 60 Nightingale courts.
We continue to work with partners across the justice system to assess what more can be done to improve the resilience of the courts during the pandemic, and to assist faster recovery. We recognise the particular impact of delays on victims and witnesses, and are providing £151m to victim and witness support services in 2021-22 to ensure victims receive the support they need.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that COVID-19 safety protocols are being enforced in courthouses; and what plans they have to recruit more court support staff in response to the pandemic.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
HM Courts and Tribunals Service has well entrenched safeguards to ensure safety of all people in its buildings and we have a transparent framework in place to ensure these safeguards are adhered to.
We have worked closely with public health organisations Public Health England, Public Health Wales and Public Health Scotland, and with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to develop this framework which includes the Organisational Risk Assessment and the Local Risk Assessment Tool which mandates a weekly - site specific - risk assessment is undertaken by local managers. Information is fed through governance chains including regional senior management, who ensure consistency, and confirm that the processes are embedded and effective. Assessments are shared with a wide range of stakeholders.
Spot checks validate the assurances provided through the Local Assessments. These are conducted by our Assurance function and independently by qualified health and safety consultants. Furthermore, a Government Internal Audit Agency review of our internal Covid-19 health and safety processes, including compliance, concluded that our framework of governance, risk management and control was largely adequate and effective, with no significant weaknesses requiring remedial action.
At least 20 external regulatory interventions (e.g. HSE or local authority Environment Health Team visits) have taken place in HMCTS buildings. In all but one case the inspection team has been satisfied both by our standards and their implementation on the ground.
We also invite all staff and court users to report concerns so that they can be addressed. Concerns can be raised via local management; ‘Let Us Know’ or the newly established regional escalation route.
Insofar as staffing is concerned, recruitment commenced from June 2020, to bring in an additional 1600 people to support the work of the courts in tackling backlogs and to increase capacity in our courts including Crown Courts.
Of the 1600 people required, 1227 are already in post, and a further 354 individuals are undergoing clearances, and expected to join in the next few weeks.
In addition, more court clerks and court administrative staff are being recruited to support the running of Nightingale courts and existing courts to increase sitting day capacity.