Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of offences where disability hate crime was a factor in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions and convictions by detailed offence. There is no specific offence under legislation for crimes involving disability hate crime, rather it is an aggravating factor in offences. This information may be held on court record, however, identifying these cases would require a manual search of court records, which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the call for evidence on bailiff enforcement launched in 2018, entitled Review of the 2014 enforcement agent reforms introduced by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
As set out in the Secretary of State for Justice’s Written Statement on bailiff reform made on 22 July, we’ve been continuing to engage with stakeholders before finalising our response. We will respond in full to the call for evidence as soon as possible.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2019 to Question 252630 on Landlord and Tenant; whether the Government plans to make an estimate of the number of annual evictions using Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988; and what statistics the Government holds on the number of evictions in the private rented sector in a given year and the reasons for those evictions.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Government recently announced that it will put an end to ‘no-fault’ evictions by repealing section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. MHCLG Ministers will launch a consultation on the details of a better system that will work for landlords and tenants. The Government will collaborate with and listen to landlords, tenants and others in the private rented sector to develop a new deal for renting.
Whilst we hold data on the number of evictions in the private rented sector using section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, we do not have the reasons for those evictions.
Number of private landlord repossessions by county court bailiffs in England and wales, 2005-2018 | |
Year | Private landlord repossessions |
2005 | 3,979 |
2006 | 4,101 |
2007 | 4,342 |
2008 | 4,435 |
2009 | 4,618 |
2010 | 5,279 |
2011 | 5,852 |
2012 | 6,097 |
2013 | 6,049 |
2014 | 6,321 |
2015 | 6,061 |
2016 | 6,011 |
2017 | 6,260 |
2018 | 6,913 |
Source: Mortgage and Landlord Possession Statistics Quarterly | |
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question 252114, how many bailiffs have been removed from the certificated bailiff register following a judgment that they are not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate in each year since 2014.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Certificated Bailiff Register held centrally by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service does not record the reasons for why a certified enforcement agent has been removed from the register. Pursuant to the answer to Question 252114, reasons for cancelling a certificate include an agent leaving his or her employer, ceasing to work as an enforcement agent or a judicial order that they were not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) district judges and (b) magistrates have been assigned to participate in youth courts in each year since 2010; and what proportion of those (i) district judges and (ii) magistrates were (A) women and (B) men.
Answered by Robert Buckland
All salaried District Judges (Magistrates’ Court) are, following their appointment, trained and authorised to sit in the Youth Court. The number of judges on the 1st April in each year since 2010, male and female, is set out in the table below. Judicial statistics are not yet available for 1st April 2019.
| 1st April 2010 | 1st April 2011 | 1st April 2012 | 1st April 2013 | 1st April 2014 | 1st April 2015 | 1st April 2016 | 1st April 2017 | 1st April 2018 |
Male | 106 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 98 | 95 | 89 | 90 | 91 |
Female | 37 | 38 | 41 | 41 | 44 | 43 | 44 | 49 | 49 |
Total | 143 | 137 | 141 | 142 | 142 | 138 | 133 | 138 | 140 |
Data on the number of magistrates assigned to youth court prior to October 2016 are not available and it would present a disproportionate expense to HMCTS to provide it. Data regarding youth magistrates is available from 1 April 2017. The data provided for magistrates are internal Management Information and not subject to the same quality checks as official statistics. The number of magistrates assigned to the Youth Court on 1st April 2017, 2018, and 2019, male and female, is set out in the table below.
| 1st April 2017 | 1st April 2018 | 1st April 2019 |
Male | 1088 | 904 | 790 |
Female | 1289 | 1133 | 1066 |
Total | 2377 | 2037 | 1856 |
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many notices were granted by the courts under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 in each year since 2010.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many bailiffs have been removed from the certificated bailiff register in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Edward Argar
Since the introduction of the Certification of Enforcement Agent Regulations in April 2014, the following numbers of enforcement agents have been removed from the Register of Certificated Enforcement Agents:
2014 - 31
2015 - 91
2016 - 104
2017 - 74
2018 – 37
2019 (January -April) - 26
Reasons for cancelling a certificate include an agent leaving his or her employer, ceasing to work as an enforcement agent or by a judicial order following a judgment that they are not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time between a young offender being charged and their (a) trial if they have pleaded not guilty and (b) sentencing hearing where they have pleaded guilty has been in each year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar
Data available does not allow the question to be answered with two simple measures as offences can be sentenced at either the Youth court (magistrates’) or Crown court. The attached tables provide figures on the average (both mean and median) number of days from:
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the provisions of sections 16 to 24 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to include (a) sports coaches, (b) driving instructors, (c) faith leaders and (d) other positions of trust; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Any sexual activity with a child under 16 is a criminal offence, regardless of whether consent is given. Any non-consensual sexual activity is also a crime, whatever the age of the victim and whatever the relationship between the victim and perpetrator.
Where a manipulative offender grooms a child prior to them reaching the age of consent and then engages in a sexual relationship with them when they are over 16, this could be prosecuted under offences such as Section 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
We remain absolutely committed to protecting children and young people from sexual abuse and we already have a wide range of criminal offences under which to prosecute and sentence those who carry out such acts. We continue to keep this under review.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate the Government has made of the level of non-compliance with judgements in small claims courts; and what plans he has to strengthen the powers of courts to enforce judgements in small claims cases.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HM Courts and Tribunals Service does not have data about the level of compliance with judgments in the county court, because judgment debts are not always paid into court.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the enforcement of court judgments is effective whilst protecting debtors from aggressive behaviour from enforcement agents. We have launched a call for evidence on how enforcement agents operate as part of our review of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. The call for evidence closes on 17 February 2019. We shall consider the need for further reform of the powers and regulation of enforcement in the light of that evidence.
As part of its wider reform project, HMCTS is focusing on improving the service it provides to people who wish to enforce a court judgment.