Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussion his Department has had with relevant stakeholders in Hexham constituency on legislative changes to recognise that under 16s can be victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.
Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of reported incidents of violence against women and girls against under 16 year- olds in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East, and (e) England.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.
Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders in Northumberland on legislative changes to recognise that under 16s can be victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.
Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East on legislative changes to recognise that under 16s can be victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.
Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle backlogs in the courts in the North East.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the court system. This is being delivered through a combination of increased funding and improving efficiency. In the North East, specifically, the Government is taking the following steps:
CRIMINAL COURTS
For this financial year (25/26), this Government is funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 111,250 sitting days this year, 5,000 higher than the previous Government funded in the last financial year.
As a result of increased government funding, the North East circuit will sit an extra 1,500 days in FY25/26, taking the total to around 15,000 days.
In the magistrates’ courts, we continue to recruit trainee legal advisers and magistrates to deal with the increasing levels of cases coming into the courts.
FAMILY COURTS
The North East has strengthened arrangements between the judiciary and HMCTS operational teams. This collaborative approach ensures early triage of applications, timely allocation of judicial resources, and improved scheduling of hearings. By jointly reviewing case readiness and safeguarding information at the outset, courts are better able to identify appropriate pathways, reduce unnecessary delays, and maintain progress toward the 16-week measure.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on providing support to victims of rape and sexual violence through the court system in the North East.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers at the Ministry of Justice engage regularly with stakeholders across the criminal justice system and victim support sector organisations across the country and in all regions. I recently held a roundtable at the Angel Centre (a Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Newcastle) to meet with and learn from local services supporting victims of sexual violence.
This Government is committed to ensuring that victims are supported throughout their engagement with the criminal justice system, regardless of where they live. Across the country, every Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) area now has at least two dedicated Victim Liaison Officers in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are offered to all adult victims of these crimes, and the CPS have also delivered trauma-informed training to staff as part of their Victims’ Programme. The Ministry of Justice-funded Witness Service also provides on-the-day emotional and practical support to victims who are witnesses.
This year we have protected dedicated Ministry of Justice Violence Against Women and Girls victims spending, maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support services in every Police and Crime Commissioner area. This also includes the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which provides funding to over 60 specialist support organisations, including in the North East.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Department is taking to support victims of rape and sexual violence through the court system in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring that victims of rape and sexual violence are supported throughout their engagement with the criminal justice system, regardless of where they live. Across the country, every Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) area now has at least two dedicated Victim Liaison Officer in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are offered to all adult victims of these crimes, and the CPS have also delivered trauma-informed training to staff as part of their Victims’ Programme. The Ministry of Justice funded Witness Service also provides on-the-day emotional and practical support to victims who are witnesses.
This year, we have protected dedicated Ministry of Justice Violence Against Women and Girls victims spending, maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support services in every Police and Crime Commissioner area. This also includes the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, which provides funding to over 60 specialist support organisations, including in the North East.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Sentencing Council on the use of community sentences (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales is a non-departmental body, established by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing. The primary role of the Council is to issue guidelines on sentencing, which the Courts must follow, unless it is in the interests of justice not to.
The Council’s ‘Imposition of Community and Custodial Sentences’ guideline sets out the guidance that sentencers must follow when imposing community orders and custodial sentences, including deciding whether a custodial sentence can be suspended. It provides more detail as to the sorts of community requirements available under community orders and suspended sentence orders. This overarching guideline applies across England and Wales – the Council does not produce guidelines that are specific to a geographic location. The guideline can be found online at the Council’s website: https://sentencingcouncil.org.uk/guidelines/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences/.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department plans to take through the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill to support victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse. In November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected areas to provide more protection for victims, and early this year we will introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms. These are just some of the first steps we are taking to tackle VAWG and improve the justice system response to domestic abuse across England and Wales.
Through the upcoming Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, we have committed to strengthening the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner to further empower them to hold the system to account when the needs of victims, including victims of domestic abuse, are not being met.