Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has considered raising the Aarhus Convention cost limits on judicial reviews of development and infrastructure.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government remains committed to protecting access to justice in environmental cases, while supporting the timely delivery of infrastructure projects under the Government’s Growth Mission. The issue of cost caps relating to Judicial Review in the planning context was considered by Lord Banner in his independent review published in October 2024. He did not recommend any change to the default cost caps in Aarhus cases. Judges already have the power to vary costs caps upwards or downwards according to the particular circumstances in a case.
In addition, between September and December 2024, the Government ran a Call for Evidence on access to justice in relation to the Aarhus Convention. This Call for Evidence considers the recommendations of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) regarding whether changes are required to the Environmental Costs Protection Regime (ECPR).
The Government intends to publish a response to the Call for Evidence in the coming months.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of sharia courts in the UK.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the Honourable Member for Thirsk and Malton to my answer given on 18 December to Question 18879: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-12-10/18879.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the policy is of (a) her Department and (b) HM Courts and Tribunal Service on granting legal aid to travellers for enforcement cases against unauthorised (i) development and (ii) encampments.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Determinations about whether an individual qualifies for legal aid are made by the Director of Legal Aid Casework or Legal Aid Agency staff authorised by the Director to make determinations. The statutory role of Director of Legal Aid Casework was created under section 4 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). In making individual determinations, the Director must act independently of Ministers, applying the relevant statutory framework. The Lord Chancellor may not issue directions or guidance in relation to an individual case.
There is no specific policy relating to granting legal aid to travellers regarding any form of enforcement activity. All applications for legal aid are considered on a case-by-case basis against the statutory framework and any applicable general guidance issued by the Lord Chancellor. Legal aid will be granted in all cases where the appropriate eligibility criteria are met.
The relevant eligibility criteria will depend on the nature of the case and in particular if it is a civil or criminal case and whether it is in scope of civil services as described under Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 or outside of scope in which case it would be considered against the criteria for exceptional case funding (ECF). Although the specific criteria will differ depending on the type of applications, the individual will need to demonstrate that they are financially eligible for the legal aid services sought and that their case meets the applicable merits criteria. Additionally, for ECF the individual will need to demonstrate that failure to grant legal aid would breach, or risk breaching, the individual's Convention rights (within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998), or any rights of the individual to the provision of legal services that are assimilated enforceable rights. Full details of the eligibility criteria for legal aid including links to the relevant legislation can be accessed via the LAA’s website here for civil legal aid, criminal legal aid and ECF.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service does not have powers to grant legal aid save for in very narrow circumstances as set out in the Criminal Legal Aid (Determinations by a Court and Choice of Representatives) Regulations 2013, none of which apply to enforcement cases against unauthorised development and encampments.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 December 2024 to Question 20225 on Prisons: Construction, if she will list the four locations affected by the nutrient neutrality rules; on what dates mitigation measures were resolved on the three sites referenced; and whether each of those three sites have full planning permission.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The below table shows the four Rapid Deployment Cell Programme locations that have been affected by nutrient neutrality:
Name of site | Date Provisional Nutrient Credit Certificate received | Planning Permission status | Proposed number of places |
HMP Deerbolt | 16/09/2024 | Planning application not yet submitted | 60 |
HMP Holme House | 16/09/2024 | Planning approved | 21 |
HMP Kirklevington Grange | 16/09/2024 | Planning approved | 152 |
HMP Bure | N/A - mitigation ongoing | Planning application not yet submitted | c.60 |
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 23 December 2024 to Question 20225 on Prisons: Construction, what the status of the planning permission is for each site; and how many additional prison places are proposed in each location.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The below table shows the four Rapid Deployment Cell Programme locations that have been affected by nutrient neutrality:
Name of site | Date Provisional Nutrient Credit Certificate received | Planning Permission status | Proposed number of places |
HMP Deerbolt | 16/09/2024 | Planning application not yet submitted | 60 |
HMP Holme House | 16/09/2024 | Planning approved | 21 |
HMP Kirklevington Grange | 16/09/2024 | Planning approved | 152 |
HMP Bure | N/A - mitigation ongoing | Planning application not yet submitted | c.60 |
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time is between a complaint being (a) received and (b) logged at the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber – Residential Property).
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Administrative complaints uploaded into the HMCTS complaints handling system direct from the gov.uk online complaints portal are logged immediately automatically. These constitute the vast majority of administrative complaints received by the tribunal. Complaints received by other methods (e.g. phone, email, post) require manual entry and we do not hold timeliness information on the logging of these. The target for the first response to administrative complaints is ten working days.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any recent proposals to (a) build and (b) expand prisons have been affected by nutrient neutrality rules.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Within the prison expansion programmes, the Rapid Deployment Cells Programme has been affected by nutrient neutrality rules at four sites. Developments in these catchment areas need to either secure nutrient credits or other nutrient mitigation for planning permission to be granted. To date, mitigation has been secured at three of the four sites.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes a more strategic approach to nature recovery, which we expect would streamline the process for nutrient neutrality mitigation.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many postmasters have been notified that their convictions have been quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
As of 26 July 2024, we have issued 10 letters confirming to postmasters that their convictions have been quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024.
The Ministry of Justice, Northern Irish Executive and Scottish Government are taking all reasonable steps and are working at pace to identify those within scope of the legislation. To do this, the Government is examining data spanning multiple decades and from multiple sources, including but not limited to the Post Office, the Police National Record, and court files. It is necessary that this process is undertaken carefully.
The previous Government said publicly that most letters confirming to individuals that their convictions have been quashed would be sent by the end of July. However, since then inconsistencies have been identified between the different datasets and the Government has therefore decided to conduct extra checks to ensure that all decisions on scope are correct.