Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, when his Department first assessed each of the red-rated legacy IT systems in (a) his Department and (b) HM Courts and Tribunals Service to be red-rated.
Answered by Mike Freer
We completed an assessment of our critical systems against the CDDO’s legacy technology measures in July 2023, identifying the red rated system during that process.
HMCTS first assessed the red-rated legacy IT systems in October 2022 as part of their Decommissioning and Legacy Risk Mitigation (DLRM) programme.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, what steps his Department has taken to mitigate the risks of red-rated legacy IT systems used in (a) his Department and (b) HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
Answered by Mike Freer
We continue to assess our most critical services using the CDDO legacy IT framework. Now that funding has been secured, we are designing phased plans to mitigate risks for the red-rated services identified in the previous assessment. One of the red-rated services has had technical risks mitigated by being migrated to the MoJ's modernisation platform. Additionally, we are continually improving our overall risk management and mitigation approaches.
Within HMCTS, services have also been assessed against the framework, and we are continuing with the delivery of the Decommissioning and Legacy Risk Mitigation (DLRM) programme that is addressing these risks. DLRM is a SR21-funded, Government Major Project Portfolio programme specifically focussed on legacy system risks and is decommissioning, replacing, or moving them onto secure, modern, cloud-based environments.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any non-executive directors employed in his Department are non-domiciled.
Answered by Mike Freer
Non-executives’ personal data, including those relating to personal taxation or status, are protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Collection of personal data on non-dom status is not routinely collected and is generally not required for making public appointments. If any such data was held, it could only be published if doing so was in compliance with data protection law.
Non-executive board members are not employees of the Ministry of Justice and act in an advisory capacity.
Data relating to public appointments are covered by the Public Appointments Privacy Statement found here: https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/privacy.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mike Freer
I can confirm the MoJ has several contracts to deliver external recruitment services over financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23; however, these are not consultant based.
External recruitment agencies and search firms are an important resource which support the
Civil Service's ability to recruit - to find talented people, in the right places, with the right capabilities to deliver for the people of the United Kingdom. The Civil Service has developed a number of commercial frameworks which provide transparency, high quality services and
value for money.
The largest of these recruitment service contracts is with TMP Worldwide (Peoplescout) and spend in the financial years requested in summarised below:
F/Y | Contract Value |
2020/21 | £2,848,380 |
2021/22 | £7,249,765 |
2022/23 | £7,449,789 |
There are other recruitment services contracts which have been awarded over the financial years requested. These are listed below by contract value over the years rather than spend:
F/Y | Contract Value |
2020/21 | £126,500 |
2021/22 | £353,100 |
2022/23 | £238,950 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of disabled young people who will be unable to access their Child Trust Fund savings without a Court of Protection application and (b) the total value of savings in the accounts of those disabled young people by the time all accounts have matured in 2029.
Answered by Mike Freer
Disability can be physical or mental. Many young people with a disability will have mental capacity and be able to access all savings in their Child Trust Fund without a Court of Protection application.
The Department does not collect figures on the number of Child Trust Funds held by individuals with a disability that requires them to make a Court of Protection application.
The total value of savings in the accounts of those disabled young people by the time all accounts have matured in 2029 is not information held by this Department.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on allowing access to Child Trust Funds using DWP Appointee status as a proxy for approval.
Answered by Edward Argar
With the introduction of the online process for property and affairs applications the decision clearance time for a Court of Protection application has been reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks. In cases of emergency the court is able to provide a decision within 24 hours.
The online process for property and affairs applications was made available to all court users in February. We continue to review and revise the process and the court will continue to identify areas to simplify and remove duplication on court forms, including uploading to the online process many of the forms required for a property and affairs applications. To date, there have been no discussions between the Secretary of State and other Cabinet colleagues on allowing access to Child Trust Funds using DWP Appointee status as a proxy for approval as discussions have remained at policy official level.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the decision clearance time was for a Court of Protection application as of 27 April 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
With the introduction of the online process for property and affairs applications the decision clearance time for a Court of Protection application has been reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks. In cases of emergency the court is able to provide a decision within 24 hours.
The online process for property and affairs applications was made available to all court users in February. We continue to review and revise the process and the court will continue to identify areas to simplify and remove duplication on court forms, including uploading to the online process many of the forms required for a property and affairs applications. To date, there have been no discussions between the Secretary of State and other Cabinet colleagues on allowing access to Child Trust Funds using DWP Appointee status as a proxy for approval as discussions have remained at policy official level.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to help simplify the court process for Court of Protection applications since the publication of the Mental Capacity: Small Payments Scheme Government Response in February 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
With the introduction of the online process for property and affairs applications the decision clearance time for a Court of Protection application has been reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks. In cases of emergency the court is able to provide a decision within 24 hours.
The online process for property and affairs applications was made available to all court users in February. We continue to review and revise the process and the court will continue to identify areas to simplify and remove duplication on court forms, including uploading to the online process many of the forms required for a property and affairs applications. To date, there have been no discussions between the Secretary of State and other Cabinet colleagues on allowing access to Child Trust Funds using DWP Appointee status as a proxy for approval as discussions have remained at policy official level.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the Court of Protection by parents or guardians of children with learning disabilities hoping to access their Child Trust Fund were (a) made and (b) successful in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar
According to management information provided by the Court of Protection, it received 18 applications in 2022 where a Child Trust Fund was the sole asset, and all applications were successful.
This does not include those cases where a Child Trust Fund may be one of several assets owned by the young person lacking capacity as it is not possible to identify these cases centrally.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons benefit decisions have been overturned following an appeal at the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal in the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Mike Freer
Information about the outcomes of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Decisions on benefit entitlement can be overturned on appeal for a variety of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including evidence in the form of oral testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HM Courts & Tribunals Service cannot comment on decisions made by independent tribunal judiciary.