Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Courts and Tribunals Service plan to recruit additional staff to support repossession cases in preparation for when Section 21 evictions end.
Answered by Mike Freer
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) recently introduced the Renter’s (Reform) Bill to Parliament. This bill includes the provision to end Section 21, also known as ‘no fault’ evictions. DLUHC and MoJ are jointly working on the Justice Impact Test (JIT), an MoJ tool to identify, quantify and cost the impacts of the Renter’s Reform Bill on the civil justice system.
The scale of any resource requirement resulting from additional impacts on the justice system, will be subject to agreement between MoJ and the policy-owning department.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many possession notices issued by private residential landlords in England and Wales cited antisocial behaviour as a reason in the most recent period for which data is available; and what the average (i) mean and (ii) median time was between a private residential landlord in England and Wales applying to the courts to repossess a property to the repossession taking place in such cases.
Answered by Mike Freer
The MoJ does not hold data on possession notices issued by landlords outside the court process. The MoJ publishes statistics here on the volume and timeliness of possession claims brought to court but we do not record the grounds for possession and therefore cannot extract claims relating to antisocial behaviour from other possession claims.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Leader of the House on the parliamentary timetable for legislative proposals to protect journalists from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation before the end of the Parliament.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Government has announced its intention to legislate on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation when parliamentary time allows. We are engaging with all interested parties, including the Leader of the House, to find the best way forward to tackle this important issue via the most appropriate legislative vehicle and will announce the timetable in the usual way.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to ensure that all court services across the country are committed to the Disability Confident initiative; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The MoJ achieved Disability Confident Leader status in October 2017. The externally accredited application reflected the commitment and work of all parts of the organisation including Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.
HMCTS’ Chief Executive is also the MoJ’s Board-level Disability Champion and is developing an internal HMCTS Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategy for staff, which will include a commitment to continuing to improve the experience of court services for disabled court users.
One of the steps taken is to provide new guidance which is currently being finalised. This includes reasonable adjustments and a tool kit for staff to support the requirements of court users; disability awareness training for court staff; communication support for HMCTS customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired - for example using British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and ensuring there are court rooms with hearing enhancement systems; and providing staff with access to support through a new initiative called Mental Health Allies along with training on mental health, to better support vulnerable court users.
The MoJ will continue to focus on improving disability confidence across the organisation and the services it provides.