Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government recognises the importance of responding to members of the public in an effective and timely manner, and the Cabinet Office published an updated Guide to Handling Correspondence for government departments and agencies in July 2021.
Following publication of the updated guidance, all departments have been reminded that they must follow the processes outlined in the guidance. The guidance reasserts the standards for handling correspondence, including a 20 working day deadline for departments to respond to members of the public, criteria outlining when a response to a member of the public is required, and when a piece of correspondence from a member of the public should be transferred to another department.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What progress the Government has made on the UK's accession to the Lugano Convention 2007.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The UK applied to re-join the Lugano Convention on 8 April 2020. The next steps are for the existing contracting parties to consider the UK’s application and to provide their unanimous agreement. Switzerland has already agreed to the UK’s accession and Norway and Iceland publicly declared their support over a year ago.
UK participation in Lugano is in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU. It establishes clear rules around which country’s courts will hear a case and enables the recognition and enforcement of judgments between different countries’ courts in civil commercial and family maintenance cases.
Now that negotiations have successfully concluded, we encourage the EU to approve the UK’s application with all appropriate urgency.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps he is taking to ensure the equitable treatment of freedom of information requests by his Department.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is important that freedom of information requests are handled in the correct manner and it is equally important to ensure that there are steps in place to achieve this.
A freedom of information request is a valuable means to obtain information that is not otherwise publicly available and to increase government transparency in line with the legislation.
The MoJ is proudly leading the way across Government on performance handling freedom of information requests. The Department have met the Information Commissioner’s Office performance target of responding to at least 90% of FOI requests in time for over thirty-six months consecutively.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate the use of facial recognition technology as evidence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Lord Chancellor or Ministers have not held specific meetings on this but regularly discuss a broad range of criminal justice matters with Cabinet colleagues and others.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 23 January 2020 to Question 4315 on Justice and Security Act 2013, if he will make it his policy to consult (a) civil society and (b) the legal profession on scope of the planned review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
As the answer provided to the Honourable Member’s earlier questions on the planned review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013 advised, discussions are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 11 April 2019 to Question 240976 on the Justice and Security Act 2013, how he plans to determine the terms of reference for the review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013; and whether he will consult civil society and the legal profession on the nature and scope of that review.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Further to the answer provided by Minister of State Lucy Frazer MP QC to the Honourable Member’s questions in April of last year on the Justice and Security Act 2013, I can advise discussions are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 11 April 2019 to Question 240976 on the Justice and Security Act 2013, when he plans to announce the review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Further to the answer provided by Minister of State Lucy Frazer MP QC to the Honourable Member’s questions in April of last year on the Justice and Security Act 2013, I can advise discussions are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 11 April 2019 to Question 240976 on the Justice and Security Act 2013, whether he has appointed a reviewer to undertake the review of the operation of Sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Further to the answer provided by Minister of State Lucy Frazer MP QC to the Honourable Member’s questions in April of last year on the Justice and Security Act 2013, I can advise discussions are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2018 to Question 152051, how he plans to determine the terms of reference for the review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013; and whether he will consult civil society and the legal profession on the nature and scope of that review.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A reviewer has not been appointed yet. Discussions between officials are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2018 to Question 152051, and with reference to the December 2018 publication of the fifth annual Report to Parliament on the use of closed material procedures, when he plans to announce the review of the operation of sections 6 to 11 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A reviewer has not been appointed yet. Discussions between officials are ongoing and an announcement will be made in due course.