Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is his policy to invest all additional revenue from court and tribunal fees into the Courts and Tribunals Service to help tackle the civil case backlog.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Additional income raised from court and tribunal fees will make a significant contribution to vital work taking place across the Department to facilitate an effective and efficient justice system. This includes our continuous efforts to improve HMCTS service performance and reduce court backlogs.
Fees generated £727 million in income for the Ministry of Justice in 2022/23 out of the total c.£2.3 billion that it cost to run HMCTS. The recent round of fee uplifts is expected to raise another £30 million – £37 million a year in additional income.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates court hearings have been delayed or could not go ahead due to a (a) failure to deliver a prisoner and (b) delay in bringing a prisoner to court by (i) SERCO and (ii) other providers of escort services since 2017, by court.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide the information requested without detailed examination of individual records for more than 220 courts, across two Prisoner Escort and Custody Services contract generations (Generation 3, 2011 – 2020, and Generation 4, 2020 – 2030), and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions prisoners were delivered late to (a) a magistrates’ court hearing and (b) a Crown Court hearing, by each court, since 2017.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide the information requested without detailed examination of individual records for more than 220 courts, across two Prisoner Escort and Custody Services contract generations (Generation 3, 2011 – 2020, and Generation 4, 2020 – 2030), and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Breathing Space (Debt Respite Scheme) to 180 days.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government launched the Breathing Space scheme on 4 May 2021, and as of February 2024, over 216,000 people in problem debt have benefited from Breathing Space protections.
In developing the scheme, the government took the decision that sixty days is an appropriate period for breathing space to last to give individuals the time to engage with debt advice, whilst maintaining fairness and certainty for creditors.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it remains his Department's policy for benefits to continue to be increased in line with inflation.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State Pensions and benefits.
The Secretary of State will commence his 2025/26 up-rating review in the Autumn.