Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Law Society on the management of Family Protection Trusts by firms of solicitors.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
While the Attorney General and I, and our department, regularly engage with the legal professions, we have not discussed the management of Family Protection Trusts by firms of solicitors with the Law Society.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what plans he has to increase the amount of time victims of domestic violence are given with the Crown Prosecution Service before being called as a witness at trial.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Crown Prosecution Service understands that attending court is often an intimidating experience for all victims of crime, including victims of domestic abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to treating all victims and witnesses at court with respect and sensitivity. Victims of domestic abuse are encouraged to take part in pre-trial familiarisation visits, which can help them understand what will happen when they attend court. Additionally, the Speaking to Witnesses at Court guidance commits the prosecutor to meet the victim before they give their evidence to explain court processes and procedures and answer questions the victim may have.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much his Department received from the European Social Fund between 2007 and 2014; and how much his Department further received from the European Social Investment Fund from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Law Officers’ Departments have not received any such funding.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps he plans to take in response to the findings of the report, entitled Communicating with victims, published by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate in January 2016.
Answered by Robert Buckland
On the day of the report the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) agreed to act on each of the three recommendations made.
In addition, the CPS has already taken action to address a range of issues identified in the report. For example, they have redeployed more paralegal staff and managers to Crown Courts to ensure that there are sufficient staff to support victims and witnesses. When rollout is complete around 350 paralegal staff and managers will be based at Crown Courts across England and Wales. The CPS is also introducing new guidance on Speaking to Witnesses at Court which will improve the service provided and is currently operating in a number of pathfinder sites. It will be rolled out across the country by summer 2016.
The CPS is also reviewing the resourcing of VLUs to ensure that sufficient staff are in place to manage the workload of those units.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many children with mental health difficulties have been prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants, including those identified as children, with mental health difficulties who have been prosecuted. To obtain details of the number of cases where such circumstances apply would require a manual exercise of reviewing individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the number of rape convictions.
Answered by Oliver Heald
Increasing the number of rape convictions continues to be a priority in the criminal justice system. On 6 June 2014, a Rape Action Plan was jointly published by the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which sets out a series of actions designed to improve the criminal justice response in rape cases. This followed a Rape National Scrutiny Panel led by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the National Policing lead for rape, which considered the investigation and prosecution of rape cases including their referral from the police to the CPS. The Action plan can be found on the CPS website at; http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/equality/vaw/rape_action_plan.pdf