Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond substantively to the correspondence of 1 February 2024 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MC112949.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice responded to the letter on 14 March 2024. The Ministry of Justice takes the handling of correspondence very seriously and in this instance, due to an administrative error, there was a delay in responding. As outlined in our response, we apologise for the delay in responding.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the average time it takes to prosecute an offender for rape in Wales over the last five years; and for what reason prosecutions for rape have declined in England and Wales by 70 per cent during that time.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Specific timeliness data at the stage of prosecution is owned by the CPS and the AGO. However, I am keenly aware that timeliness in rape cases is an issue nationally, and at every stage of the system. Through the data delivery dashboards, we are working with partners at local level, including in Wales, to understand specific contexts and trend analysis, and to make improvements.
In June 2021, we published the End to End Rape Review report and action plan with our plan to transform the way the criminal justice system responds to rape and increase the number of adult rape cases being charged and going to court.
Our research within this report set out that the reasons for the decline in cases reaching court are complex and wide-ranging, including an increase in personal digital data being requested, delays in investigative processes, strained relationships between different parts of the criminal justice system, a lack of specialist resources and inconsistent support to victims.
Since the report was published, we have made significant progress in delivering actions to change the system for the better. We are:
Alongside our progress update published in June, we additionally announced a pilot of enhanced specialist sexual violence support in the Crown Court. This is aimed squarely at doing better by rape victims, giving them the support they need to stay engaged in the process and get the justice they deserve.
We are starting to see the results of these interventions. Rape convictions were up by 67% in 2021 compared to 2020, and 27% compared to 2019.
We are committed to going further and pushing harder on our actions so that we see bigger impacts, deliver wider system change and crucially, deliver justice for victims of rape and sexual abuse.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on additional court space in each constituency of Wales since March 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HMCTS has so far spent £283,922 to create additional court space in Wales. We have opened a temporary Nightingale court in Swansea, established extra jury capacity in Cardiff and installed modular buildings (Portaccabins) in Caernarfon and Swansea.
Recovering from the impact of the pandemic is our top priority. HMCTS has published updates on their response to Covid-19 in the criminal and civil, family and tribunals jurisdictions in England and Wales. They provide comprehensive updates on recovery plans and include details about Nightingale courts and our actions to make sure our buildings are covid-secure.
We’ve unlocked vital capacity across England and Wales by opening 16 Nightingale Courts to provide 29 extra court rooms, 10 of which are being used for non-custodial jury trials. Portacabins are being installed to enable jury trials and therefore increase crime/jury hearing capacity. They are primarily being used as jury deliberating rooms and for assembly/jury management.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which parts of the HM Courts and Tribunals Service estate in each constituency of Wales have been sold since 2010; what the date was of each such sale; and how much was paid for each part of the estate sold.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The table below provides the details of all court and tribunal buildings in Wales that have been sold since 2010.
Court | Date sold | Proceed |
Aberdare Magistrates and County Court | Apr-12 | £275,000 |
Abergavenny Magistrates' Court | Mar-19 | £499,809 |
Abertillery Magistrates Court | Sep-11 | £81,000 |
Ammanford Magistrates Court | Oct-12 | £90,000 |
Barry Magistrates Court | Jun-12 | £250,000 |
Brecon Law Courts | Mar-19 | £575,000 |
Bridgend Law Courts | Mar-17 | £375,000 |
Caerphilly Magistrates' Court | Mar-18 | £445,000 |
Cardigan Magistrates Court | Apr-13 | £48,910 |
Carmarthen Law Courts (The Guildhall) | Dec-16 | £223,004 |
Denbigh Magistrates Court | Dec-13 | £165,000 |
Dolgellau Crown & Magistrates' Court | Nov-17 | £67,509 |
Flint Magistrates Court | Apr-15 | £87,500 |
Holyhead Magistrates' Court | Oct-17 | £112,500 |
Llangefni Civil and Family Court | Mar-18 | £72,000 |
Llangefni Magistrates Court | Sept - 12 Leasehold property - Lease sold | £32,228 |
Llwynypia Magistrates Court | Dec-11 | £471,010 |
Neath and Port Talbot Civil and Family Court | Oct-17 | £250,000 |
Neath Magistrates’ Court | Jul-14 | £450,000 |
Pontypool County Court | Jun-14 | £200,000 |
Pontypridd Magistrates' Court | Mar-17 | £350,000 |
Pwllheli Magistrates Court | Dec-12 | £131,013 |
Rhyl County Court | Sep-17 | £92,150 |
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the effect of employment tribunal fees on access to justice.
Answered by Oliver Heald
On 11 June 2015 we announced the start of the post-implementation review of the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunals. The review is making good progress and I expect to announce its conclusions in due course.