To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Sentencing: Females
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women received an immediate custodial sentence for (a) less than six months and (b) six months or more in each of the four Police Force areas in Wales in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015, (iii) 2016, (iv) 2017 and (v) 2018 in each offence category.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Ministry of Justice has published information on the number of adult females sentenced to immediate custody broken down by custodial sentence length, by Police Force Area and by offence group in the Court Outcomes by Police Force area data tool available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804509/court-outcomes-by-PFA-2018.xlsx

Select ‘All’ in the Court Type filter.

Select ’02: Female’ in the Sex filter and ’03: Adults’ in the Age Group filter.

Select ’15: Immediate Custody’ in the Outcome filter.

In the pivot table, filter Police Force Area to Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales.

In the pivot table field list, drag ‘Offence Group’ from Filters to Rows, beneath ‘Police Force Area’.

Custodial sentence lengths can be selected using the Custodial Sentence Length filter.

Police Force Areas provide breakdowns of where offences were dealt with (not where they were committed).


Written Question
Offenders: Employment
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, by what (a) criteria and (b) date the performance of his Department’s New Futures Network initiative supporting offenders into employment will be assessed.

Answered by Robert Buckland

We are completing the roll-out of the New Futures Network, with 13 of the 15 geographical prison groups across England and Wales now covered.

The New Futures Network is responsible for three things:

  1. The availability and quality of work for prisoners in commercial workshops.
  2. Brokering partnerships with employers that produce workplace ROTL opportunities.
  3. Brokering partnerships that generate employment opportunities on release.

It will be assessed against those criteria at the end of this financial year, as part of the annual HMPPS reporting cycle.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which Government Department is responsible for ensuring people due to be released from prison are released with a (a) valid photo ID, (b) bank account and (c) JobCentre appointment for universal credit.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for ensuring people are released from prison with a valid photo ID and a bank account. We recognise the importance of this support and have made changes so that Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) are clearly responsible for the provision of identification documents and bank accounts, as part of Through the Gate support to prisoners on release. We have invested an additional £22 million per annum to improve delivery of these vital services for the remainder of the CRC contracts.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has responsibility for Universal Credit and Jobcentre appointments. We are working closely with the DWP to agree a National Partnership Agreement which sets out how the two Departments work together to support ex-offenders into employment. We are also working with DWP to help support these work coaches, and to further ensure they have the tools and support to do their jobs effectively.


Written Question
Prison Officers: Pay
Friday 12th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to publish the pay award for prison officers following the recommendations made by the Public Sector Pay Review Board.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

At this time I am unable to confirm when the response to the Prison Service Pay Review Body recommendations will be published.


Written Question
Personal Injury: Compensation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Litigant in Person portal will be expanded to include minor personal injury claims by April 2020.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is working closely with a broad group of expert stakeholders to develop the new accessible IT Service. This will support and enable both represented and unrepresented claimants to progress all Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims where the value of the personal injury claims is under the new small claims track limit of £5,000.


Written Question
Legal Representation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many meetings (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have held with representatives of claimant bodies on the operation of the Litigant in Person portal in the last three months.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Secretary of State has not met with any representatives of claimant groups in the last three months. However, officials have met with representatives of the Motor Accident Solicitors Society and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers on four occasions between April and June 2019 to discuss the whiplash reform programme generally, including aspects of the new IT Service.


Written Question
Personal Injury: Compensation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish his Department's response to Part 2 of the consultation paper, Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (whiplash) Claims Process.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is considering the issues raised in Part 2 of the consultation paper Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (whiplash) Claims Process and intends to publish its response by the end of this year.


Written Question
Legal Representation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that customers' experience of the litigant in person portal can be (a) monitored and (b) evaluated.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is working closely with its key delivery partner (the Motor Insurers’ Bureau) and a broad group of expert stakeholders from across the personal injury sector to develop a new accessible IT Service. This will enable both represented and unrepresented claimants to progress Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under £5,000.

Public testing of the IT Service is planned to begin in November 2019 and, in light of user’s experience, the Government will consider making some further modifications to the service before it goes live in April 2020, so that it is easy to understand and navigate.

In addition, the service will provide a significant amount of management information. The Government is committed to reviewing this management information and how the new service is operating to identify any required changes and improvements approximately eighteen months from implementation. This will include a full evaluation of all relevant data relating to the overall customer experience of claimants using the service.


Written Question
Legal Representation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that insurance companies do not submit incorrect Not Admitted responses through the Litigant in Person portal.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government wants to ensure that all claimants progress their claim efficiently and that claims for compensation are not unnecessarily delayed. As part of the new process, the Government is working in partnership with expert stakeholders to develop a bespoke alternative dispute resolution scheme to support unrepresented claimants and enable them to gain, at no cost to themselves, an independent view on the liability decision made by the defendant insurer. The new IT Service will also be publishing regular management data on how claims are handled by defendant insurers, including on how many times insurers are denying liability.


Written Question
Legal Representation
Wednesday 10th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Litigant in Person portal will include the ability for the litigant to present all losses in relation to an accident.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is working closely with a broad group of expert stakeholders to develop a new accessible IT Service. This will support and enable both represented and unrepresented claimants to progress Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under the new small claims track limit of £5,000. The new service will enable claimants who can demonstrate a loss, to claim for special damages and vehicle related damages they have paid for themselves, as long as the total value of the claim does not exceed the upper limit of the small claims track.