Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to increase the maximum age for magistrates.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The magistracy is an integral part of the judiciary and therefore, as for all judicial office holders appointed since 1995, magistrates are subject to a uniform mandatory retirement age of 70. This has been the policy of successive Lord Chancellor’s since 1995. The government’s response to the recent report of the Lords Constitution Committee indicated that further consideration would be given to the arguments in favour of, and against, a change to the judicial mandatory retirement age. That consideration is ongoing.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2018 to Question 136859 on Small Claims: Electronic Government, where his Department has established a telephone helpline for claimants to contact to discuss those cases.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
A telephone helpline has been established for claimants and defendants who require assistance with the money claims process. This helpline is supported by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) staff based in the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.
A press release advertising the launch of this new service on Gov.uk was published on the 6 April, and sent to key media outlets. In addition, Susan Acland-Hood, HMCTS Chief Executive Officer, wrote to key stakeholders, and I wrote to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee to inform the Committee of the new service.
The new Online Money Claims Service allows Litigants in Person to issue, respond and settle claims for under £10,000 online. Existing Money Claims Online users can also use the new service to issue new claims. 90% of users of the new system are satisfied or highly satisfied.
The telephone service has been fully operational since 26 March 2018. Service performance and call volumes are constantly monitored to ensure resources are allocated to match demand.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2018 to Question 136859, on Small Claims: Electronic Government, what steps he is taking to publicise the launch of the new online money claims service.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
A telephone helpline has been established for claimants and defendants who require assistance with the money claims process. This helpline is supported by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) staff based in the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.
A press release advertising the launch of this new service on Gov.uk was published on the 6 April, and sent to key media outlets. In addition, Susan Acland-Hood, HMCTS Chief Executive Officer, wrote to key stakeholders, and I wrote to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee to inform the Committee of the new service.
The new Online Money Claims Service allows Litigants in Person to issue, respond and settle claims for under £10,000 online. Existing Money Claims Online users can also use the new service to issue new claims. 90% of users of the new system are satisfied or highly satisfied.
The telephone service has been fully operational since 26 March 2018. Service performance and call volumes are constantly monitored to ensure resources are allocated to match demand.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2018 to Question 136859 on Small Claims: Electronic Government, whether existing money claims online users will have access the new online money claims service.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
A telephone helpline has been established for claimants and defendants who require assistance with the money claims process. This helpline is supported by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) staff based in the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.
A press release advertising the launch of this new service on Gov.uk was published on the 6 April, and sent to key media outlets. In addition, Susan Acland-Hood, HMCTS Chief Executive Officer, wrote to key stakeholders, and I wrote to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee to inform the Committee of the new service.
The new Online Money Claims Service allows Litigants in Person to issue, respond and settle claims for under £10,000 online. Existing Money Claims Online users can also use the new service to issue new claims. 90% of users of the new system are satisfied or highly satisfied.
The telephone service has been fully operational since 26 March 2018. Service performance and call volumes are constantly monitored to ensure resources are allocated to match demand.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the telephone service accompanying the money claims online system; and whether that service is fully operational.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
A telephone helpline has been established for claimants and defendants who require assistance with the money claims process. This helpline is supported by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) staff based in the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.
A press release advertising the launch of this new service on Gov.uk was published on the 6 April, and sent to key media outlets. In addition, Susan Acland-Hood, HMCTS Chief Executive Officer, wrote to key stakeholders, and I wrote to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee to inform the Committee of the new service.
The new Online Money Claims Service allows Litigants in Person to issue, respond and settle claims for under £10,000 online. Existing Money Claims Online users can also use the new service to issue new claims. 90% of users of the new system are satisfied or highly satisfied.
The telephone service has been fully operational since 26 March 2018. Service performance and call volumes are constantly monitored to ensure resources are allocated to match demand.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to allow courts in England and Wales to hear cases (a) in the evening and (b) at weekends.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Magistrates’ Courts across England and Wales routinely sit on Saturdays to hear custody cases and warrants where required.
As part of the HM Courts & Tribunals Service Reform Programme, a series of pilots have been proposed to test options for hearing cases in the Crown Court, Magistrates’ Courts and Civil & Family courts between 8am to 8:30pm. I am considering the feedback on the proposals and will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to allow people to submit evidence by e-mail to the Money Claims Online website.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) launched the new online money claims service on 26 March 2018. This new digital service already allows people to submit email responses and some correspondence. As the service is developed, HMCTS expects to extend the functionality to include the emailing of evidence.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on providing tailored employment support to prisoners before their release.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Ministry of Justice works closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve the employment outcomes for prisoners. This included the review of the DWP Prison Work Coach role to ensure a greater focus on employment and ensure input throughout an offender’s sentence including:
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has for upgrading the court estate in Swindon.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Improvement works are planned at both Swindon Magistrates’ Court and Swindon Combined Court. The works will improve how services are currently delivered to court users in the Swindon area, and will also enable the receipt of additional workloads following the planned closure of Chippenham Law Courts. We expect this work to be completed by summer 2018.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation of 1 November 2016, Official Report, column 780, what progress has been made by mobile network operators on developing a solution to prevent the unauthorised use of mobile phones in prisons.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The illicit use of mobile phones undermines the safety and security of prison which is why we are taking urgent and decisive action.
Under measures introduced in late 2016, we can now apply for Telecommunications Restriction Orders at Court to block specific mobile phones being used in prisons. Since the legislation was introduced in August, we have had more than 150 mobile phones cut off.
In addition, we have announced new measures in the Prison and Courts Bill that will allow the Secretary of State to authorise mobile network operators to block illicit mobile phone signals across entire prison sites. This will allow industry experts to work more creatively and effectively to block signals and means that we won’t require a court order to stop the illicit and harmful use of mobile phones in prisons.