Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in judicial processes.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseloads across our courts and tribunals and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.
While the listing of cases is an independent judicial function, we have consistently invested in judicial recruitment to ensure we have the capacity to deliver effective judicial processes. Since 2018, we have recruited around 1,000 judges and tribunal members annually, across all jurisdictions.
Criminal courts
Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ courts, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 370,700 at the end of December 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly.
To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we invested £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of more magistrates. We aim to recruit 2,000 new and diverse magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.
At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. We delivered 107,700 sitting days in the most recent financial year (FY23/24) and judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases. The latest data shows cases progressed through the Crown Court more quickly throughout 2023, with the median time from receipt to completion reducing from 167 days in the first quarter of 2023, to 125 days in the last quarter.
We are also investing more in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings, up to March 2025.
Family Court
In March 2024 the Family Justice Board agreed a new set of priorities for the family justice system, with a clear focus on closing the longest running cases and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluding within the 26-week statutory timeline.
We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55 million to improve productivity, support earlier resolution of family disputes and reduce the number of cases coming to court. This includes creating a digital advice tool for separating couples, piloting early legal advice and supporting the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model. The Department for Education are investing an extra £10 million to deliver new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law.
We have provided the flexibility for judges to sit virtually across regional boundaries, so that judges can be deployed where they are needed most, to reduce the caseload and waiting times.
We are also investing up to £23.6 million in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of May 2024, over 28,600 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.
Civil courts
With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have a significant volume of judicial recruitment underway for District and Deputy District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation.
The requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service will start this spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.
The HMCTS Reform Program has introduced technology that delivers simplified and transformed digital ways of working for civil court users and judges such as the online money claims process and the damages claims service, offering accessible and responsive services.
Tribunals
With regards to the tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have helped the Tribunal to manage its caseload which remains below its pandemic peak.
We have rolled out the HMCTS digital reform programme in the Immigration and Asylum and Social Entitlement chambers so that anyone challenging an immigration or welfare benefits decision can lodge their appeal, track progress and receive the results all online.
HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on encouraging Qatari investment in UK research and development.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through all our global partnerships, including those in the Gulf, government is delivering on the UK’s Science and Technology Framework and strengthening UK R&D.
Qatar is an important friend to the UK and our bilateral relationship includes cooperation across many areas. The UK-Qatar Strategic Investment Partnership, signed in May 2022, signalled Qatar’s intention to deploy a further £10bn investment in key UK sectors, such as life science, zero-emissions vehicles and fintech over the next 5 years.
The UK’s new research MoU with Saudi Arabia, which I signed last month, is another example of where we are driving forward partnerships in the region to support UK R&D.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the backlog in the courts.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseloads across our courts and tribunals and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.
Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ court, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 353,900 at the end of September 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly. To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we invested £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of more magistrates. We aim to recruit 2,000 new magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.
At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. Last financial year we sat over 100,000 days and this financial year, we plan to deliver around 107,000 sitting days and recruit more than 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions. Judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases, with disposals up by 9% during Q3 in 2023 compared to Q4 in 2022 (25,700 compared to 23,700).
We are also investing in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025. We have also continued the use of 20 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2024/25 financial year, to allow courts to work at full capacity.
In the Family Court, we are working with the Department for Education and other partners on the Family Justice Board to tackle the longest running cases and increase the proportion of public law cases that conclude within the 26-week timeline. The Department for Education are also investing an extra £10m to develop new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law proceedings.
We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55m to improve productivity, support earlier resolution of family disputes and reduce the number of cases coming to court. This includes creating a digital advice tool for separating couples, piloting early legal advice and supporting the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model. We are also investing up to £23.6m in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of March 2024, over 26,000 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.
With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have launched the biggest ever judicial recruitment drive for District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation. The requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service will start this spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.
With regards to tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have helped the Tribunal to manage its caseload which remains below its pandemic peak.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand the support available through Jobcentres in Broadland constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and help employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting jobs fairs and delivering sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs), they are working with Breckland, Kings Lynn & West Norfolk and North Norfolk District Councils, Duke of Lancaster Academy and Fakenham Academy to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total rate of (a) employment and (b) unemployment was of people aged 16 to 64 between February and April 2010.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The 16-64 UK employment rate was 70.2% between February and April 2010. The 16-64 UK unemployment rate between February and April 2010 was 8.1%.
Employment and unemployment data is published and available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/summaryoflabourmarketstatistics
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Irish Government on the establishment of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government engages regularly with the Irish Government on a range of matters that benefit from partnership between our two countries.
Most recently, I met with the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, on 12 October. A range of issues were discussed, including the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act. I encouraged the Irish Government to engage with the ICRIR in the coming months to understand its plans for implementation of the Act.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve financial education in secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Financial education forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics (at Key Stages 1 to 4) and citizenship (at Key stages 3 and 4), which together cover important financial topics including personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt, and calculating interest. The National Curriculum is compulsory for maintained schools but academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum, including mathematics. The National Curriculum can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum.
The Prime Minister recently announced more investment in secondary mathematics, and that mathematics will be studied by all 16 to 18 year olds as part of the new Advanced British Standard qualification.
As with all aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver financial education, so they can develop an approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
There is a wide range of support for financial education. For example, the Money and Pensions Service has published guidance, setting out how schools can improve the financial education they deliver, and signposting to services and resources that can help. The guidance can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research/2021/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england.
The Department’s national network of 40 Maths Hubs also supports schools to improve their mathematics teaching, including financial content in the mathematics curriculum, based on best practice from East Asia.
The Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, will provide adaptable, optional and free support for schools, reducing teacher workload and enabling pupils to access a high quality curriculum. New Oak curriculum materials, including for mathematics, will start be available from autumn 2023, with full curriculum packages available by summer 2024. Oak’s next phase of procurement of curriculum resources is expected to launch in late 2023 and will include citizenship.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the costs to the dualling of the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham and Easton to North Tuddenham of the judicial review process.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
National Highways’ estimated legal costs associated with the judicial review process for the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham and A47 Easton to North Tuddenham schemes is £50,000 to £75,000. The judicial review process has not yet completed, so further legal costs could be incurred.
It is not yet possible to assess the full impact of the legal action on the project itself. However, it has meant that the schemes have missed their scheduled start of works dates of March 2023 and their construction costs will face additional inflationary pressures, potentially into the millions of pounds.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress she has made on the Help to Grow scheme; what plans she has for the future rollout of this scheme to (a) SMEs and (b) other businesses; and which businesses in Broadland constituency are participating in the scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Up to the end of February 2023, the Help to Grow: Management (HTG:M) programme has had 5,395 enrolments, including 295 businesses from the East of England. Our Year One evaluation findings show that 90% of SME leaders surveyed say they would recommend the programme to another business leader. It is not possible to disclose individual business information due to data protection. The programme will run until 2025.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) the Scottish Government on improving transport connectivity between the mainland of Scotland and the islands.
Answered by John Lamont - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
Connectivity between the Scottish mainland and islands is essential to the livelihoods and well-being of our island communities.
The Scotland Office routinely engages with stakeholders on this and other matters impacting our islands. Indeed, my Ministerial colleague, Lord Offord, attended the first Islands Forum last year.
I am confident that continued collaboration will help island communities tackle shared challenges and unlock their full potential.