Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress he has made on reducing rates of reoffending.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is committed to reducing crime and protecting the public by tackling reoffending. Over the last 10 years, there has been a broad decline in overall reoffending rates. We will invest £200 million a year by 2024-25 to further reduce reoffending and cut crime.
We will improve prison leaver’s access to accommodation by providing temporary accommodation for prison leavers through our new Community Accommodation Service.
Our Prisoner Education Service will focus on improving numeracy, literacy and the qualifications that increase prisoners’ prospects of finding work on their release. There are now 23 Employment Hubs, ‘job-centres in a prison’, that are directly supporting prisoners into jobs on release.
We will also introduce new personalised Resettlement Passports, bringing together the key information and services that an individual needs to resettle into society.
Our reforms to the Probation Service, supported by additional annual funding of £155 million, will help reduce reoffending through robust supervision, tougher community sentences, improved local partnership working and delivery of rehabilitative services.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on implementing the provisions of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Act provides for the biggest reform of divorce law in fifty years and will reduce conflict between couples legally ending a marriage or civil partnership. At Commons Third Reading of the Bill the Lord Chancellor explained the need to allow time for careful implementation and that, at that early stage, the Government was working towards an indicative timetable of autumn 2021. This was an ambitious timetable.
Following Royal Assent on 25 June 2020, the Ministry of Justice has worked closely with the Family Procedure Rule Committee to identify the significant changes needed to Family Procedure Rules and supporting practice directions, and to devise some key new procedures. Those procedural changes are critical as they will shape amendments to family court forms, the online digital divorce service, and information on gov.uk. The Family Procedure Rule Committee has now consulted on draft rule amendments and is working to finalise these rules post consultation.
In parallel, officials have begun work to identify, design and build the necessary amendments to court forms and, importantly, amend the new online digital divorce service while the procedural rules themselves are being finalised. This work includes consideration of commitments made during the passage of the Act through parliament to improve the information and signposting for couples when they navigate the legal process of divorce, dissolution or separation.
The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring that the amended digital service allows for a smooth transition from the existing service which has reformed the way divorce is administered in the courts and improved the service received by divorcing couples at a traumatic point in their lives. Following detailed design work, it is now clear that these amendments, along with the full and rigorous testing of the new system ahead of implementation, will not conclude before the end of the year.
The Government recognises the need for clarity on when these important reforms will come into force. This will now be on the common commencement date of 6 April 2022. While this delay is unfortunate it is essential that we take the time to get this right. The new divorce process will work to reduce conflict, which is especially damaging for children, and will reflect work the Government are undertaking through the Reducing Parental Conflict programme. That programme will build the evidence on what works to reduce harmful levels of parental conflict below the threshold of domestic abuse, working with local areas to help them embed support in their local services for families. We will also use this opportunity to strengthen signposting to family mediation as a means to resolve arrangements for children and the division of assets on divorce.
Asked by: Jane Stevenson (Conservative - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to amend the definition of adultery to include same-sex relations.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Parliament considered this definition during passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Adultery in this context has a longstanding definition and can, within the terms of the 2013 act, take place only between a man and a woman. A same sex extramarital affair can therefore not be cited in support of the legal fact of adultery for the purpose of a divorce petition under the existing law. People can and do, however, use the fact of behaviour in a divorce petition to cite same sex affairs or other kinds of infidelity that do not meet the legal definition of adultery.
Commencement of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will remove the requirement to evidence adultery or any other fact and replace this with a requirement to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. There will therefore no longer be a requirement to evidence matters of a personal nature that can introduce or worsen conflict to the detriment of any arrangements for the future, particularly about children.