Written Question
Tuesday 14th September 2021
Asked by:
Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question
to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Section 1 of the HM Courts & Tribunal Service annual report and accounts 2020-21, published in July 2021, HC 405, what actions have been taken as a result of the establishment of the ministerial taskforce to improve capacity, efficiency and productivity of the Employment Tribunal system.
Answered by Chris Philp
- Shadow Home Secretary
Despite the enormous challenges they have faced, the employment tribunals remained open throughout the pandemic. We have harnessed the benefits of technology to ensure that the tribunals remain safely operational and accessible. We have maximised our use of remote hearings in the employment tribunals, which are now the largest user of the cloud video platform across all tribunals.
However, significant challenges remain. We are working closely with the judiciary to continue to improve our disposal rate through maximising judicial capacity and driving further recruitment of judges. The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy have also been working closely through a joint taskforce on what further measures we can introduce to take the employment tribunals towards recovery.
The taskforce is carefully considering what further actions we can take to support recovery across the employment dispute system, and to enhance its resilience and sustainability in the longer term. We expect to able to announce the first part of the taskforce’s work on further actions we can take to support the recovery of the system in due course.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Jun 2021
End-to-end Rape Review
"It is of course vital that the charging and prosecution of rape cases improves dramatically, so that rapists are put in prison and survivors get justice, but we also need to stop rape and other forms of violence against women and girls happening in the first place, and that requires …..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 10 Jun 2021
Hillsborough: Collapse of Trials
"Bishop James Jones set out in his report that one of the problems with the initial inquest was that there was no public funding for the families to get the representation and advice they needed. The Government have said that providing legal aid for inquests is too expensive. I listened …..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Jun 2021
Protecting the Public and Justice for Victims
"The Government’s own figures show that the number of outstanding criminal court cases has risen by 15,918 since the pandemic began. Some of this is a consequence of covid—a consequence made worse by the Government’s slow action to introduce the Nightingale courts—but covid does not explain the huge backlogs that …..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Protecting the Public and Justice for Victims
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 18 May 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
" The Government’s own review warns that any changes to judicial review should be made only after the most careful consideration, so will the Government listen to themselves and will the Secretary of State rethink his plans to limit individuals’ powers to challenge Government through the courts?..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
View all Wera Hobhouse (LD - Bath) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 18 May 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
" What steps he is taking to reduce the length of time taken to grant probate. ..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 18 May 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
"One of my constituents applied for probate and was mistakenly sent the wrong will. This was discovered only after they chased it and they discovered that the case had been closed, with no word from the probate office. When the correct will was sent, it was lost and once again …..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 18 Mar 2021
Independent Review of Administrative Law
"I thank the panel for the work it has been doing. There is no justification for the proposals to restrict people’s access to court. The current judicial review system works well, allowing people directly to hold Governments of any colour to account and enforce their rights through the courts. Instead …..."Wera Hobhouse - View Speech
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Written Question
Tuesday 9th February 2021
Asked by:
Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question
to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2021 to Question 140903 on Employment Tribunals Service: Coronavirus, how many single claims have been (a) received by and (b) disposed of by Employment Tribunals since 1 September 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp
- Shadow Home Secretary
Information on single claim receipts and disposals is detailed in weekly management information.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-weekly-management-information-during-coronavirus-march-to-december-2020
Written Question
Friday 29th January 2021
Asked by:
Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question
to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral evidence of the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets to the Women and Equalities Committee on Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact on 4 November 2020, Q177, HC 385, how many women made an employment tribunal claim in respect of a redundancy in breach of Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 in each year since 2000.
Answered by Chris Philp
- Shadow Home Secretary
HM Courts and Tribunals Service does not hold the information requested.