Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time taken by the Bury St Edmunds Regional Divorce Centre to process an application for a decree nisi was in the latest period for which data are available.
Answered by Mike Freer
The information requested is not held centrally. HMCTS does not hold the data requested that measures that parameter on the average length of time taken by the Bury St Edmunds Regional Divorce Centre to process an application for a decree nisi.
HMCTS is working to standardise process management and systems within Regional Divorce work in the future.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made in the effectiveness of community service at removing litter in communities.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Government is investing an additional £93m in Community Payback over the next three years, which will allow us to increase delivery of Community Payback up to 8m hours per year. There will be a particular focus on delivering more outdoor projects that improve local areas and allow the public to see justice being done.
Community Payback plays a key role in clearing up communities, working in partnership with Local Authorities and the voluntary sector. For example, during the 2022 Community Payback Spring Clean week teams across England and Wales delivered over 300 visible projects, amounting to 10,000 hours of unpaid work and 2200 bags of litter collected. Community Payback will build on this success in the upcoming 2023 dedicated spring clean event. Clearing litter is a routine activity undertaken as part of Community Payback, for example we also clean up through national partnerships with organisations like the Canal & River Trust.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2017 to Question 7091 on Gender Recognition Act 2004, how many people were convicted of an offence under section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 in each year since 2016.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The number of offenders found guilty at all courts for offences under S22 Gender Recognition Act 2004 is zero in England and Wales, from 2016 to 2021.
This information for the year of 2022 will be available in May 2023.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to tackle race disparity in the youth justice system, particularly with regard to those held on remand.
Answered by Alex Chalk
We want people to have confidence in a justice system that is fair and open—one where no person suffers discrimination of any sort.
The over-representation of ethnic minority children in the youth justice system is a real concern and we continue to prioritise understanding and tackling disparities.
The MoJ Youth Justice Policy Unit, the Youth Justice Board and the Youth Custody Service work closely together on this. Work includes providing the tools and data to help frontline youth justice services to understand the needs of ethnic minority children, work with the Magistrates’ Association to build awareness of disproportionality among sentencers, and securing over £1m in funding to use physical activity to improve outcomes for 11,000 ethnic minority children at risk of entering the criminal justice system.
In relation to remand, we are also exploring race disparities in the context of a departmental review into the use of custodial remand for children. In addition, the steps we are taking through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to tighten the tests courts must apply to remand children to custody also have the potential to help reduce disparity in remand decisions.
More broadly, work directly within the youth justice system can only partially address inequalities, as ‘upstream’ factors which increase the likelihood of a child appearing in the youth justice system are also disproportionate. Cross Government work on education, health and policing, all important areas upstream of MoJ’s remit, recognises the importance of equalities.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to increase county court capacity in Kent.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
In line with the Civil, Family & Tribunals Recovery Plan, published in November 2020, HMCTS has put in place measures to help civil and family courts and tribunals recover as quickly as possible. This includes:
All the above steps have been taken in Kent.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to address the backlog of urgent possession court cases caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Overall Arrangements produced by the judicial-led working party set up by the Master of the Rolls details measures that will assist with managing the incoming volume of possession cases and provide access to justice for all parties while protecting the most vulnerable.
These arrangements include improvement in the signposting and guidance for landlords and tenants, the introduction of a review process to allow early engagement between parties and provisions for possession hearings to take place in a safe way.
In addition a scheme of prioritisation to assist judges with identifying the most urgent cases has been introduced. The listing of cases is a judicial function and prioritisation is a tool available to the judiciary when case managing possession matters.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many urgent possession court cases have been delayed by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The requested information is not held. Management Information collected in possession proceedings, including information relating to adjournments, does not detail any urgent marking.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps his Department is taking to improve provision of legal aid for housing cases in Canterbury.
Answered by Paul Maynard
After the latest LAA civil tender the number of offices providing legal aid services has increased by 7% in housing and debt. The LAA reviews the access to services on a regular basis and takes any necessary action to maintain access to those services.
As a result of the 2018 civil contract procurement activity access to providers offering Housing advice in Kent, and specifically the Kent Coast procurement area in which Canterbury falls, has increased.
Following an extensive and open programme of engagement, we recently published our review of LASPO. We announced that we are launching a series of pilots offering early legal advice for an area of social welfare such as housing. These pilots will help us determine the most effective solutions going forward.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Rent Repayment Orders have been made by each of the five regional First-Tier residential property tribunals under (a) section 44, (b) section 45 and (c) section 46 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
All Rent Repayment Orders (RROs) are made by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) under section 43 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. Section 46 lays out the circumstances where the maximum RRO is to be be set (regardless of whether it is a tenant or a local housing authority application).
Internal management information shows:
| Number of RROs made in response to applications from tenants up to the end of September 2018 | Number of RROs made in response to applications from local housing authorities up to the end of September 2018 | Number of RROs set at maximum under s46 up to the end of September 2018 (from tenant or local housing authority application) |
London | 7 | 0 | 0 |
Northern | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Midland | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Eastern | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Southern | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 18 | 3 | 2 |
Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what support his Department provides, in addition to the probate and inheritance tax helpline, for vulnerable people and people with learning difficulties who are engaging with the probate process.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMCTS Probate provides additional support to all customers, including vulnerable people and people with learning difficulties who are engaging in the Probate Process by way of advice on completing the application by experienced staff. Staff will provide guidance through published information on all aspects of the process that the applicant will have to go through. They will support customers attending Probate Offices and will address concerns raised by telephone or by email. It is not the role of HMCTS staff to provide legal advice.