Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Bill
Robert Flello Excerpts(13 years, 3 months ago)
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Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
I congratulate the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr Knight) on bringing the Bill to the House. I know the pressures and pitfalls associated with promoting a private Member’s Bill all too well, following my own experience with the Sustainable Livestock Bill. I hope that his hon. Friends will be somewhat pithier in their contributions when debating his Bill than they were on 12 November. I particularly noted the right hon. Gentleman’s opening remarks. Parliamentary observers—those outside the Chamber—will have seen the usual suspects in the House today and will know that we are probably in for a long sitting.
Robert Flello
I always like to be generous and, indeed, I thank the right hon. Gentleman for supporting my Bill on 12 November. I wish, sadly, that some of his colleagues had felt the same way.
The right hon. Gentleman did an extremely good job; he gave a valuable explanation, with examples that clarified the existing law and its application. I also congratulate the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) on his usual measured and thoughtful contribution to the debate. I concur that further consideration in Committee would be valuable to look at some of the detail. Despite 40 minutes or so of the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire introducing his Bill, some issues still need to be teased out in Committee.
If enacted, the Bill would address the concerns raised by the Law Commission in its 2005 report, “The Forfeiture Rule and the Law of Succession”. The report proposed amendments to the law as it stands, whereby grandchildren of a deceased individual are disallowed from inheriting property and suffer from what might be described as the sins of their parents being visited upon them if the parents were responsible for the murder of the deceased. The current law disinherits grandchildren of the deceased when their parent forgoes their inheritance, and it also applies when the parent is an unmarried minor on inheritance and dies without attaining majority, or marrying or entering a civil partnership.
The report’s headline recommendation was that a deemed predeceased rule be used when a child or relative has either murdered the deceased or opted to disclaim the inheritance, thereby forfeiting their entitlement to it. The child would be considered to have died shortly before the parent, and the law would then allow for the grandchild to inherit.
As the debate over the rights and wrongs of assisted suicide continues, and cases of patricide and matricide sadly continue to occur, the Bill is timely, and the Opposition believe it addresses a clear injustice. Indeed, the previous Labour Government accepted the recommendations of the Law Commission report, and in December 2009 produced the draft Civil Law Reform Bill which, among other things, incorporated those recommendations. The Bill was welcomed by the Justice Committee and it is disappointing that the current Government chose not to proceed with the measures in it.
I welcome the Bill introduced by the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire and I am pleased that he has used his favourable draw in the private Members’ ballot to bring forward legislation that reflects the combined wisdom of the Law Commission, and indeed the previous Labour Government. The Bill would take forward, with some modifications, clauses in part 3 of the Civil Law Reform Bill and despite the Government’s decision not to take forward that draft Bill, I am pleased that the Front-Bench team have—I believe—indicated that they do not oppose the Bill before us today.
The forfeiture rule is, of course, part of the wider principle that an individual should not profit from a crime they have committed. The previous Government strengthened that principle through such legislation as the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and the Labour party in opposition continues to support it. The forfeiture rule prevents an individual from inheriting property from someone, through a will, when they have unlawfully killed the deceased or unlawfully aided, abetted, counselled or procured the death. The rules as they stand would disallow a grandchild of the deceased from inheriting anything in such a situation—a rule the Bill seeks to amend.
The Law Commission report stated that the law as it stands is unfair for three reasons: grandchildren should not be punished for the sins of their parents; it is more likely that the deceased would have wished to benefit the grandchildren than other relatives; and the general policy of intestacy law is to prefer direct descendants to siblings and other relatives—to make an exception under the forfeiture rules is inconsistent with that policy.
The Bill introduces the deemed predeceased rule suggested by the Law Commission, whereby the child is considered to have died before the parent, and I believe it would address the Law Commission’s three criticisms. It would mean that unless stated otherwise in a will, a deceased person’s property would be distributed as though certain individuals—one who disclaims a gift, forfeits a gift, or a single parent dying under the age of 18—had died immediately before the deceased.
It is worth further mentioning the last of those three individuals—the single parent dying under the age of 18—as it is commendable that the right hon. Gentleman has used his Bill to address that anomaly. The current law states that when a parent dies leaving minor children, the “vested interest” of that child cannot be passed to their own children if they die before the age of 18. That is deeply unfair, so the Opposition welcome the inclusion of those provisions in the Bill.
As the debate over assisted suicide develops, or considerations as yet unknown become more important, future parliamentarians may find themselves debating the matter again. Unfortunately, when legislation is introduced to close a loophole or address a fairly narrow issue, it can in turn create new loopholes or additional issues. Those concerns notwithstanding, the Opposition have no objection to the Bill and we hope to see it proceed to Committee for further and more detailed scrutiny.
I again congratulate the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire on introducing the Bill. If it is pushed to a Division, I hope that a sufficient number of Members will join me in voting in favour of it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Robert Flello Excerpts(13 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Blunt
The C-NOMIS information technology system was one of the greater disasters that surrounded the provision of IT under the previous Administration. Rescued out of that has been the P-NOMIS system, which does not deliver quite the co-ordination between probation services and the Prison Service that was intended of C-NOMIS. However, we will continue to work to ensure that we make the proper connections as far and as best we possibly can to ensure that IT properly supports our management of offenders.
Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) spoke about the excellent work done with women offenders by Brighter Futures. I know of the valuable work that is also done by the Saltbox chaplaincy project, which has cut reoffending rates to just 12% even among prolific offenders. However, these fantastic providers, along with many others in the third sector, are at risk of having to cease their effective work because of this Government’s ill-thought-through change to the payment-by-results scheme, which is still in consultation. I welcome what the Minister has said, but before third sector organisations with a track record of success on reoffending rates have to end those services up and down the country and make key staff redundant, is he prepared to give much greater reassurance that programmes will not come crashing to an end this coming March, with the loss of all that good work?
Mr Blunt
As I said, we have identified funding to sustain those projects that have demonstrated effective performance, but, as the hon. Gentleman will be well aware, the Department is not in a position to sustain funding on the current level. A total of £10 million was put aside to set these schemes up, whereupon they were then meant to move to local commissioning. There will be continuing support for the schemes from the Ministry of Justice, but we will be looking to them to win the support of local commissioners. They also have access to the Government’s £100 million transition fund, which is precisely designed to bridge that gap, as well as potential access to the big society bank.
Oral Answers to Questions
Robert Flello Excerpts(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
In the name of so-called efficiency of justice, the Secretary of State has scrapped the post of chief coroner, a move widely condemned by organisations such as Inquest and the Royal British Legion. They point out that tens of thousands of people every year are forced to grapple with the archaic, unaccountable coroners system, which needs the reforms promised by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The Minister said that scrapping the chief coroner was necessary to save money, but what assessment has he made of the increased costs that will be incurred through the greater use of judicial review, which is bound to result from this short-sighted decision? May I invite the Secretary of State or his Minister to put on record now exactly what the real cost will be of that false efficiency? Or will he take this opportunity to reverse that misguided proposal?
Nick Herbert
We do not think that this was a sustainable proposal, with set-up costs of £10 million and running costs of £6 million a year. The important thing now is to reform the coroners system appropriately to ensure the efficient administration of justice in this area.
Oral Answers to Questions
Robert Flello Excerpts(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Nick Herbert
I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. I assume that he was taking part in the scheme as an observer, not as somebody who was required to pay back to the community. It was not a Whips-run scheme.
It is important that community sentences are effective, and that there is confidence on the part of members of the public and sentencers that the schemes are rigorous. At their best they can be, but there is a great deal more work to be done to ensure that they are supervised and enforced properly.
Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
Last year alone, offenders carried out more than 11 million hours of unpaid work through the community payback scheme, which is a model of restorative justice. Across the country, offenders have cleaned graffiti, repaired community centres and worked on environmental projects, including helping to repair flood damage in Cumbria. The scheme was established by the previous Labour Government in the face of Conservative opposition—indeed, at the time, the current Attorney-General dismissed it as a gimmick. Will the Minister confirm that that excellent Labour programme is in fact now being expanded by his Government because it provides an important role in punishing and rehabilitating offenders?
Nick Herbert
May I also congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his new position as Opposition spokesperson? He does not seem to recognise that there are public confidence issues with community payback as it is currently run. He did not refer, for instance, to the ITV documentary that was broadcast recently that showed offenders abusing community payback and problems with supervision. It is the Government’s intention to considerably improve and toughen up community payback so that there is confidence in it.