Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to help reduce average processing times for cases with the Legal Ombudsman.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under the Legal Services Act 2007, the legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The oversight regulator for the legal services sector is the Legal Services Board (LSB). The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is the board responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman Scheme (LeO), and as such, the OLC is required to report on the performance of the Legal Ombudsman to the LSB.
The OLC and LeO have been transparent that waiting times experienced by consumers and legal providers needing input from LeO remain too long. Against a backdrop of increasing demand, LeO has made progress in reducing waiting times in recent years. A key driver of improvements to date has been the introduction of early resolution approaches from 2022/23. Before this transformation, all complaints referred to LeO would have been put in a queue waiting to be assessed. Today, over half of complaints are resolved through early resolution and customers can expect to have their cases resolved within an average of 60 days.
Following a consultation process in 2021, new Scheme Rules were introduced on 1 April 2023. These rules were designed to enable the LeO to further improve the customers’ experience by increasing efficiency and removing obstacles to resolving complaints, helping to ensure they are able to give an outcome at the earliest possible stage. So far in 2023/24 44% of all cases have been resolved within 90 days. In 2021/22 80% were taking more than 180 days.
Further steps the LeO has taken to improve its efficiency, and in turn improve customers’ experience, are outlined in the OLC’s most recent annual report and accounts, draft strategy and business plan, published at https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/corporate-publications/. These include a focus improving the quality of legal providers’ own complaints handling, as one way of helping address rising demand for LeO’s service.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of delays in processing open cases by the Legal Ombudsman on the finances of people who have open cases.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under the Legal Services Act 2007, the legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The oversight regulator for the legal services sector is the Legal Services Board (LSB). The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is the board responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman Scheme (LeO), and as such, it is required to report on the performance of the Legal Ombudsman to the LSB.
The LeO has a process for prioritising cases where a consumer’s circumstances mean that their complaint needs resolving urgently. Financial circumstances are one of the factors that can be considered. This information would be held on an individual case-by-case basis, but the LeO does not systematically holds records about consumers’ finances.
If the LeO decides that a consumer has experienced financial or non-financial loss as a result of a legal provider’s failings, then the remedy it awards will be assessed at the point the LeO directs it to be made. This would mean a consumer doesn’t lose out as a result of the length of time it has taken for their case to go through the LeO’s process, irrespective of the reasons for this.
The Ministry of Justice does not intend to assess the time taken by the Legal Ombudsman to process cases and the financial impact this may have on consumers. Instead, it continues to monitor the LeO’s ongoing performance through regular assurance letters provided by the OLC to the LSB. In an assurance letter provided to the LSB on 28 November 2023, the OLC stated that LeO’s operational performance continues to make progress with improvements in timelines and wait times. At the queue’s peak in 2022, customers could expect to wait up to 16 to 24 months before their complaint reached an investigator. Half of LeO’s customers’ cases are now resolved by early resolution, with no wait time. Latest figures (December 23) show the average journey time for customers whose complaints are resolved through early resolutions has fallen from 68 days in April 2023 to 42 days in December 2023. For those customers whose complaints are investigated, journey times have also reduced in the same period. Against a backdrop of an increase in demand, the LeO has made progress in reducing waiting times in recent years and anticipates a 30% reduction by the end of the year. So far in 2023/24 44% of all cases have been resolved within 90 days. In 2021/22 80% were taking more than 180 days.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the list of subjects defined as positions of trust in Section 22A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We remain fully committed to protecting children and young people from sexual abuse and continue to keep the law under review.
In 2019-20 the Government carried out a review of “positions of trust” offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, following which we made the decision to extend the offences to capture those who regularly provide, coaching, teaching, training, supervising or instructing in a sport or a religion.
Provisions to extend these offences, in the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, also created a power to allow additional positions of trust to be added via secondary legislation should it prove necessary to do so.
These reforms commenced in June 2022 so have only been in force for a little over a year. Before considering further reforms, we want to be assured that the 2022 changes are bedded in and are working effectively. My officials work closely with stakeholders and operational partners to ensure that the existing offences are being used effectively to tackle this behaviour, and that those working with young people understand their responsibilities and act appropriately.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds the proportion of decisions on ECH plans assessments that were overturned at a tribunal in England for each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
An appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) may contain an appeal against one or more Local Authority decisions and will, for statistical purposes, be classed as being in favour of the appellant if the appeal succeeds in full or in part.
The table below shows the number of appeals determined at hearing in each of the last three statistical years and of those the number and percentage of cases found in favour of the appellant.
Year | Number of appeals determined at hearing | Number of appeals in favour of the appellant | % |
2021/22 | 5600 | 5393 | 96% |
2020/21 | 4825 | 4651 | 93% |
2019/20 | 3770 | 3577 | 95% |
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps he is taking to improve the rehabilitation of offenders on release from prison.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Everyone leaving prison should have the tools they need to avoid a life of crime, including a job, a home and treatment for substance misuse issues.
Offenders typically have complex needs, many of which drive offending. The prison and probation system provides an opportunity to address these, but we also need a concerted effort across Government to rehabilitate individuals on release from prison.
For example, we are working with NHS England to develop their care after custody service, RECONNECT, to engage and support more people into treatment upon release.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions for shop theft have occurred in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes of court proceedings in England and Wales up to December 2018. The information requested for PQ 12200 and PQ 12202 can be found using the ‘Outcomes by offence’ data tool at:
Using the offence filter select ’46 Theft from Shops’.
PQ 12200
PQ 12202
The number of people who have submitted a guilty plea by post for shop theft offences in each year since 2014 can be viewed in the accompanying table.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have submitted a guilty plea by post for shop theft offences in each year since 2014.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes of court proceedings in England and Wales up to December 2018. The information requested for PQ 12200 and PQ 12202 can be found using the ‘Outcomes by offence’ data tool at:
Using the offence filter select ’46 Theft from Shops’.
PQ 12200
PQ 12202
The number of people who have submitted a guilty plea by post for shop theft offences in each year since 2014 can be viewed in the accompanying table.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been imprisoned for shop theft in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes of court proceedings in England and Wales up to December 2018. The information requested for PQ 12200 and PQ 12202 can be found using the ‘Outcomes by offence’ data tool at:
Using the offence filter select ’46 Theft from Shops’.
PQ 12200
PQ 12202
The number of people who have submitted a guilty plea by post for shop theft offences in each year since 2014 can be viewed in the accompanying table.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
If he will increase the length of sentences handed down for burglary offences.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts, taking into account the particular circumstances of the offence and offender, and following any relevant sentencing guidelines.
Over the last ten years, the average custodial sentence lengths for all forms of burglary have increased.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the percentage of people convicted of burglary offences for the first time that were handed down custodial sentences in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Rory Stewart
4,239 people - both adults and youths - who had no previous convictions for burglary offences were convicted of a burglary offence in year ending September 2018, of which 2,306 (54%) received a custodial sentence. A custodial sentence includes both immediate custody and suspended sentence orders.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts, taking into account the particular circumstances of the offence and offender, and following any relevant sentencing guidelines.