Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of HM Courts and Tribunals Service's (a) performance on probate issues and (b) speed at processing probate applications.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow with higher levels of receipts during January to June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
HMCTS has increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS are focused on increasing outputs to reduce overall timeliness on all types of applications and the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, following receipt of the documents required, is 13 weeks during April to June 2023.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to June 2023.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the time it takes for (a) sexual offences and (b) other criminal offences to reach trial.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The data on the time taken from offence to completion for all cases is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Timeliness data is available for sexual offences and other criminal offences at the link below in the ‘Crown Court timeliness tool’ and ‘End-to-end timeliness tool’: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We remain committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and have invested a significant amount of extra money for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime. We have introduced a raft of measures to achieve that aim, including opening extra courtrooms and funding over 100,000 sitting days last year, with plans to deliver the same again this year. We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation of our court buildings over the next two years as well as investing in judicial recruitment, so that we expect to recruit more than 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions by the end of 2023/2024.
We are working closely with the judiciary and other partners to improve the experience of court users. We have quadrupled funding for victims’ services so victims get the support they need throughout the process. Judges prioritise cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, and seek to ensure that domestic abuse, serious sex cases and those with vulnerable witnesses are listed at the first available opportunity.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to reduce the number of cases of sexual offences waiting to be heard in the crown court.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and are working closely with the judiciary and other partners to improve the experience of court users. We have introduced a raft of measures to achieve that aim, including funding over 100,000 sitting days last year and planning to deliver the same again this year. We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation of our court buildings over the next two years as well as investing in judicial recruitment, so that we expect to recruit more than 1,000 judges by the end of 2023/2024.
We have invested a significant amount of extra money for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime. We have opened extra courtrooms, and continued hearings, alongside quadrupling funding for victims’ services so victims get the support they need throughout the process. Judges prioritise cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, and seek to ensure that domestic abuse, serious sex cases and those with vulnerable witnesses are listed at the first available opportunity.
In June 2022, we announced our Specialist Sexual Violence Support (SSVS) project in three Crown Courts, to improve the support on offer in court for victims of rape and improve timeliness of cases going through the system. This includes trauma-informed training for all staff at courts who come into contact with victims, improved facilities and technology, and at least one Case Coordinator at each court.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the use of immigration detention for vulnerable women.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Under Home Office detention policy, people will only be detained for a reasonable period.
The dignity and welfare of detained individuals is of the utmost importance and we have policies and procedures in place to safeguard vulnerable people.
Where detention is necessary, we take into account any vulnerability concerns, and ensure that appropriate support is provided.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answers of 25 October 2023 to Question 203472 on Hare Coursing: Convictions and Prosecutions and 28 February 2018 to Question 129098 on Hare Coursing: Prosecutions, when the Crown Prosecution Service ceased maintaining a central record of the number of prosecutions for offences of hare coursing; and for what reason.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has never maintained a central record of the number of prosecutions specifically for offences of hare coursing and only holds data on the number of offences prosecuted under the Game Act 1831, the Night Poaching Act 1828 and the Hunting Act 2004, which all encompass hare coursing.
The CPS does not collect data that constitutes official statistics as defined in the Statistics and Registration Act 2007.
While the CPS does not centrally collate data showing the number of prosecutions involving hare coursing, management information data is available which shows the number of offences charged by way of the Game Act 1831, the Night Poaching Act 1928 and the Hunting Act 2004, in which a prosecution commenced. The table below shows the number of these offences recorded during each of the last three years.
| Financial Year 2020-2021 | Financial Year 2021-2022 | Financial Year 2022-2023 |
Game Act 1831 | 53 | 121 | 67 |
Hunting Act 2004 | 28 | 86 | 82 |
Night Poaching Act 1828 | 21 | 28 | 40 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management System
It should be noted that the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It may be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence. No data are held on the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
The official statistics relating to crime and policing are maintained by the Home Office and the official statistics relating to sentencing, criminal court proceedings, offenders brought to justice, the courts and the judiciary are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has established a (a) board and (b) working group for the purposes of realising the economic growth potential of East West Rail.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury has recently established an official-level East West Rail economic growth board with representatives from relevant government departments (DfT, DLUHC, DBT, DSIT & the IPA). The board will ensure that central government is fully joined up in its support for locally-led plans to maximise the benefits of East West Rail, and will co-ordinate activity accordingly.
The government provided £15m of funding at Spring Budget 2023 to support local authorities along the East West Rail route to further progress their plans to make the most of the railway for their communities.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a fund for local authorities to (a) set up and (b) expand existing supported lodgings schemes.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ implementation strategy, it is the department’s intention to increase provision and take-up of ‘supported lodgings’ models, where care leavers live in a family environment with support to develop independent living skills.
The current guidance, ‘Making a difference: Supported lodgings as a housing option for young people’, is available to all local authorities and aimed at advising on the planning and commissioning of supported lodgings. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79706aed915d04220686ea/makingadifference.pdf. The department will continue to encourage and support local authorities with the take-up of this provision and set out its plans for implementation of further support in due course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for ophthalmology patients following referral.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are taking action to recover elective services, including for patients waiting for National Health Service ophthalmology services by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the NHS with record levels of staffing and funding.
We are working together with NHS England to increase diagnostic capacity as quickly as possible including the continued rollout of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2023. The Government has also confirmed it is now on track to meet its target to open up to 160 CDCs by March 2025, and expects to achieve this a year early in March 2024. This includes an established CDC at Whitehouse Health Centre, to which general practitioners in Bedfordshire may be able to refer patients for key diagnostic checks, tests, and scans, including ophthalmology. The funding will also be used to increase capacity for imaging and improving digital diagnostics.
We are also transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, such as ophthalmology. There are currently 95 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of 16 November 2023. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care. An additional £1.5 billion of capital funding has been approved to support the expansion of existing surgical hub sites as well as the creation of more hubs in all regions.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been relating to the offence of hare coursing in each year from 2016 to date.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Offences of hare coursing may be prosecuted using offences created by the Game Act 1831, the Night Poaching Act 1828 and the Hunting Act 2004.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of prosecutions for offences of hare coursing. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve survival rates for people with pulmonary fibrosis.
Answered by Will Quince
Patients with pulmonary fibrosis are cared for by National Health Service regional specialist interstitial lung disease (ILD) services. These are commissioned by NHS England.
To be referred to a specialist service, patients need to be identified in primary and secondary care. Early and accurate diagnosis is a priority for NHS England, and the work to improve this area of clinical care is underway, which should have an impact on reducing delayed diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis.
NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of services for ILD and funds the cost of anti-fibrotic treatments to treat this disease. Access to these treatments has recently been expanded to patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis following the publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal ‘Nintedanib for treating progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases’ in November 2021.