Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction of standard monthly payments to criminal legal aid firms on those firms.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
At present, 17% of all crime accounts are paid under the Standard Monthly Payment (‘SMP’) model. The remainder have opted for Variable Monthly Payments, which pays the actual value of the claim submitted each month. Firms can elect to be paid by either model, according to which may be most advantageous to them. SMPs relate to Controlled Work services only, and therefore reflect a proportion of a provider’s total revenue.
The number of those accounts paid via SMP which have seen a reduction in payments since July 2020 represents 6% of all crime accounts. Where a reduction is necessary, this takes effect following the Legal Aid Agency notifying providers of this in advance. Firms facing financial hardship can discuss payment options further with their LAA Contract Manager.
The LAA has implemented several changes to maintain cashflow to firms and to allow firms to be paid more quickly – through these changes we can inject up to £51 million per year into criminal legal aid. We have begun a review into how criminal lawyers are compensated for their work: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/criminal-legal-aid/criminal-legal-aid-review/.
In addition to the support schemes offered by the government, we have continued to pay providers on time and introduced a number of measures to speed up payments to providers. All of the measures taken by the LAA are set out on our gov.uk page: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-legal-aid-agency-contingency-response#financial-relief-page.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Bar Council's July 2020 survey which found that 38 per cent of criminal barristers are uncertain whether they will still be practising law in 2021.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Criminal defence lawyers play a crucial role in upholding the rule of law and the Government greatly values the work they do.
To support the profession through the Covid-19 pandemic, we sought to improve the cashflow for the profession and provide support for legal aid practitioners. The changes made ensured that for work done in the Crown Court, practitioners were able to claim hardship payments for £450 worth of work done instead of £5,000, from 1 month after instruction (as opposed to 6 months). The LAA have also halted debt collection and increased the limits for payments on account claims.
The Crown Court resumed jury trials in May with the full support of Public Health England and Public Health Wales. This was ahead of all other comparable systems. Since then we have significantly expanded our capacity, opening more than 100 jury trial courtrooms safely. The Court Recovery plan, published on Monday 7 September, outlines the steps we will take to open 250 rooms by the end of October.
More recently, we announced in August that we would be taking forward the policy proposals from the accelerate areas of the Criminal Legal Aid Review (CLAR) that practitioners told us mattered most. These areas were:?unused material, cracked trials, paper-heavy cases, sending cases to the Crown Court, and?pre-charge engagement. These policies allowed us to inject between £36million to £51million into criminal legal aid.
As the pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the concerns about the sustainability of the market, in announcing the conclusions to the accelerated areas we also announced that the next phase of CLAR should involve an independently-led review. This review will be ambitious and far reaching in scope, assessing the criminal legal aid system in its entirety, and will aim to improve transparency, efficiency, sustainability and outcomes in the legal aid market.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many firms of solicitors hold a criminal legal aid contract as at 1 September 2020.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Please note for the figures provided that some firms may have more than one office. There are currently 1,138 firms who hold a Criminal Legal Aid Contract. There are currently 1,478 firms who hold a Civil Legal Aid Contract. This data is correct as at 7 September 2020.
The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many firms of solicitors hold a civil legal aid contract as of 1 September 2020.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Please note for the figures provided that some firms may have more than one office. There are currently 1,138 firms who hold a Criminal Legal Aid Contract. There are currently 1,478 firms who hold a Civil Legal Aid Contract. This data is correct as at 7 September 2020.
The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of hearings in the criminal courts have taken place (a) virtually and (b) physically since April 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The proportion of hearings in the criminal courts, that have taken place virtually and physically is shown in the HMCTS data below:
Number of Hearings by method for the period April to September 2020 (up to 7th September 2020); for Crime jurisdiction |
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Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted face-to-face | 146,862 | 34.8% |
Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted using an audio platform. | 20,812 | 4.9% |
Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted using a video platform. | 169,316 | 40.2% |
Total number of other hearings conducted. | 84,487 | 20.0% |
Total | 421,477 |
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NOTES: |
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Data provided is for Crown and Magistrates only (and excludes multi jurisdictional courts including those which are within scope), therefore the information presented is likely to be an under-representation of the actual totals |
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Source: HMCTS management information - daily SitRep which may not be completed everyday by all courts |
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This data is collected as Management Information and therefore maybe subject to ongoing changes and revision |
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Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics. |
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The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information. |
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Data has not been cross referenced with case files. |
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Initially the Sit Rep report did not fully capture all potential hearing types. As a result the option of “other” was included and predominantly reflects “paper trials”
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the additional criminal court capacity created by reducing the number of jurors from 12 to seven due to the social distancing guidance of one metre plus in those courts.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to legislate to reduce the statutory minimum number of jurors. Were the Ministry to propose any legislation we would provide full details of any sunset clause.
HMCTS has published a Court Recovery Plan which summarises the measures that are being taken. The Court Recovery Plan can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus Jury trials have safely resumed in most Crown Courts and we have announced a number of Nightingale Courts which will further support recovery.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to include a sunset clause in legislative reform to jury trials during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to legislate to reduce the statutory minimum number of jurors. Were the Ministry to propose any legislation we would provide full details of any sunset clause.
HMCTS has published a Court Recovery Plan which summarises the measures that are being taken. The Court Recovery Plan can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus Jury trials have safely resumed in most Crown Courts and we have announced a number of Nightingale Courts which will further support recovery.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the extra capacity required to reduce the backlog of outstanding cases in the criminal courts.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to legislate to reduce the statutory minimum number of jurors. Were the Ministry to propose any legislation we would provide full details of any sunset clause.
HMCTS has published a Court Recovery Plan which summarises the measures that are being taken. The Court Recovery Plan can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus Jury trials have safely resumed in most Crown Courts and we have announced a number of Nightingale Courts which will further support recovery.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of criminal court rooms have been in use in each criminal court on each day in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the length of time it will take to clear the backlog in the criminal courts of England and Wales.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge for the criminal justice system, but we have kept courts open and cases flowing through the system throughout. The UK has been a global leader and we are ahead of comparable systems.
HMCTS has now published a Court Recovery Plan, which sets out that court operating hours will be extended, alternative venues will be used as courts to increase capacity and the use of the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) will be rolled out into all Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. Further measures to increase jury trial capacity are also being explored. The Court Recovery Plan can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus
Public confidence requires cases to be dealt with in a timely manner and the backlog must be addressed. This goal will require ambition from the whole system. We have recently announced a record investment in court infrastructure and maintenance. We’re recruiting more court staff and we will shortly be making an announcement on use of additional court centres.