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Written Question
Courts
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the backlog in the courts.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseloads across our courts and tribunals and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.

Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ court, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 353,900 at the end of September 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly. To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we invested £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of more magistrates. We aim to recruit 2,000 new magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.

At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. Last financial year we sat over 100,000 days and this financial year, we plan to deliver around 107,000 sitting days and recruit more than 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions. Judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases, with disposals up by 9% during Q3 in 2023 compared to Q4 in 2022 (25,700 compared to 23,700).

We are also investing in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025. We have also continued the use of 20 Nightingale courtrooms into the 2024/25 financial year, to allow courts to work at full capacity.

In the Family Court, we are working with the Department for Education and other partners on the Family Justice Board to tackle the longest running cases and increase the proportion of public law cases that conclude within the 26-week timeline. The Department for Education are also investing an extra £10m to develop new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law proceedings.

We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55m to improve productivity, support earlier resolution of family disputes and reduce the number of cases coming to court. This includes creating a digital advice tool for separating couples, piloting early legal advice and supporting the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model. We are also investing up to £23.6m in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of March 2024, over 26,000 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.

With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have launched the biggest ever judicial recruitment drive for District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation. The requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service will start this spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.

With regards to tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have helped the Tribunal to manage its caseload which remains below its pandemic peak.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Housing
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to cover the cost of (a) removing and (b) replacing the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi & System Boiler Range (2401-0138) products in service family accommodation.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The affected Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boiler Range (2401-0138) were installed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties from August 2022 to early January 2024.

It is not known when Ideal first discovered this issue. Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) officials were made aware of potential fire safety issues relating to these boilers on 31 January 2024 and have interpreted Ideal’s risk assessment of the boiler fault occurring as very low. There was no requirement to inform Ministers, as this is routine Departmental business, however the Minister for Defence Procurement received a submission on this on 12 March 2024.

DIO has communicated the recall via MOD stakeholders for cascade to Service personnel, through DIO’s Families First newsletter and via gov.uk; this week, a letter will be/has been issued to all Service Families living in SFA.

Ideal will cover all costs of repairs and installations, therefore there will be no cost to the Department.

DIO has identified 1,626 SFA which have the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boilers (2401-0138) installed.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Housing
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service families accommodation properties are affected by the product recall of Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi & System Boiler Range (2401-0138) products.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The affected Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boiler Range (2401-0138) were installed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties from August 2022 to early January 2024.

It is not known when Ideal first discovered this issue. Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) officials were made aware of potential fire safety issues relating to these boilers on 31 January 2024 and have interpreted Ideal’s risk assessment of the boiler fault occurring as very low. There was no requirement to inform Ministers, as this is routine Departmental business, however the Minister for Defence Procurement received a submission on this on 12 March 2024.

DIO has communicated the recall via MOD stakeholders for cascade to Service personnel, through DIO’s Families First newsletter and via gov.uk; this week, a letter will be/has been issued to all Service Families living in SFA.

Ideal will cover all costs of repairs and installations, therefore there will be no cost to the Department.

DIO has identified 1,626 SFA which have the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boilers (2401-0138) installed.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Housing
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when (a) officials and (b) Ministers in his Department first learnt of fire safety issues related to Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi & System Boiler Range (2401-0138) products.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The affected Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boiler Range (2401-0138) were installed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties from August 2022 to early January 2024.

It is not known when Ideal first discovered this issue. Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) officials were made aware of potential fire safety issues relating to these boilers on 31 January 2024 and have interpreted Ideal’s risk assessment of the boiler fault occurring as very low. There was no requirement to inform Ministers, as this is routine Departmental business, however the Minister for Defence Procurement received a submission on this on 12 March 2024.

DIO has communicated the recall via MOD stakeholders for cascade to Service personnel, through DIO’s Families First newsletter and via gov.uk; this week, a letter will be/has been issued to all Service Families living in SFA.

Ideal will cover all costs of repairs and installations, therefore there will be no cost to the Department.

DIO has identified 1,626 SFA which have the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boilers (2401-0138) installed.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Housing
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when fire safety issues related to the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi & System Boiler Range (2401-0138) products were first discovered.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The affected Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boiler Range (2401-0138) were installed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties from August 2022 to early January 2024.

It is not known when Ideal first discovered this issue. Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) officials were made aware of potential fire safety issues relating to these boilers on 31 January 2024 and have interpreted Ideal’s risk assessment of the boiler fault occurring as very low. There was no requirement to inform Ministers, as this is routine Departmental business, however the Minister for Defence Procurement received a submission on this on 12 March 2024.

DIO has communicated the recall via MOD stakeholders for cascade to Service personnel, through DIO’s Families First newsletter and via gov.uk; this week, a letter will be/has been issued to all Service Families living in SFA.

Ideal will cover all costs of repairs and installations, therefore there will be no cost to the Department.

DIO has identified 1,626 SFA which have the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boilers (2401-0138) installed.


Written Question
Armed Forces: Housing
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi & System Boiler Range (2401-0138) products were first installed in service family accommodation properties.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The affected Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boiler Range (2401-0138) were installed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties from August 2022 to early January 2024.

It is not known when Ideal first discovered this issue. Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) officials were made aware of potential fire safety issues relating to these boilers on 31 January 2024 and have interpreted Ideal’s risk assessment of the boiler fault occurring as very low. There was no requirement to inform Ministers, as this is routine Departmental business, however the Minister for Defence Procurement received a submission on this on 12 March 2024.

DIO has communicated the recall via MOD stakeholders for cascade to Service personnel, through DIO’s Families First newsletter and via gov.uk; this week, a letter will be/has been issued to all Service Families living in SFA.

Ideal will cover all costs of repairs and installations, therefore there will be no cost to the Department.

DIO has identified 1,626 SFA which have the Ideal Heating Logic 2 Combi and System Boilers (2401-0138) installed.


Written Question
South Asia: Development Aid
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the (1) actual, and (2) projected, aid contributions to individual countries in South Asia, broken down by category of project.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We do not have a breakdown by project category of future spend. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

We do have information on project category spend for previous calendar years which is published in the statistics on international development. This data is based on calendar year not financial year and covers the whole of HMG. Please see below data based on 2022, the last available calendar year.

2022

2022 Total

Row Labels

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

Bhutan

India

Maldives

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Administrative costs (non-sector allocable)

£273,832

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£150,105

£0

£423,938

Advanced technical and managerial training

£0

£0

£0

-£54,390

£0

-£2,535

£0

£0

-£56,924

Agricultural development

£1,292,411

£0

£0

£47,020

£0

£0

-£1,361,746

£0

-£22,316

Agricultural policy and administrative management

£0

£2,809

£0

-£152

£0

£0

£0

-£253,566

-£250,909

Agricultural research

£0

£0

£0

£240,948

£0

£0

£7,715

£0

£248,663

Agricultural services

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£2,274,286

Anti-corruption organisations and institutions

£2,518,313

£576,402

£0

£0

£0

£175,805

£144,143

£0

£3,414,663

Basic drinking water supply

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£569,574

Basic drinking water supply and basic sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£639,497

-£1,361,746

£0

-£722,250

Basic health care

£707,157

£250,000

£0

£0

£0

£2,994,645

£387,457

£0

£4,339,258

Basic life skills for adults

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£258,611

£0

£0

£258,611

Basic nutrition

£0

£712,997

£0

£0

£0

£14,770

£0

£0

£727,767

Basic sanitation

£0

£350,000

£0

£0

£0

£37,522

-£2,723,493

£0

-£2,335,971

Biodiversity

£0

£22,328

£0

£165,389

£74,068

£961,707

£37,573

£67,842

£1,328,907

Business development services

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

£0

£0

£0

£0

£96,736

Business policy and administration

£0

£0

£0

£565,783

£0

£0

£437,513

£0

£1,003,296

Civilian peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution

£4,130,547

£1,981,030

£0

£0

£0

£4,399

£2,225,242

£1,355,856

£9,697,073

Communications policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£127,531

£0

£44,422

£0

£171,953

COVID-19 control

£0

£23,407

£0

£802,602

£0

£0

£5,949

£0

£831,958

Culture

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£61,341

£0

£61,341

Culture and recreation

£0

£0

£0

-£22,408

£0

£0

£85,158

£0

£62,750

Decentralisation and support to subnational government

£0

£0

£0

£0

£138,288

£2,475,959

£0

£0

£2,614,248

Democratic participation and civil society

£250,000

£1,394,795

£0

£0

£57,419

£973,571

£443,327

£0

£3,119,111

Domestic revenue mobilisation

£0

-£728,536

£0

£193,016

£0

£117,203

£1,059,571

£0

£641,254

Education and training in water supply and sanitation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£12,737

£0

£0

£12,737

Education facilities and training

£0

£115,830

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,464,741

£0

£1,580,571

Education policy and administrative management

£0

£577,278

£0

£97,983

£0

£0

£3,077,249

£0

£3,752,510

Educational research

£0

£361,000

£0

-£266,036

£0

£188,423

£594,639

£0

£878,026

Elections

£0

£12,027

£0

£0

£0

£0

£900

£0

£12,927

Electric mobility infrastructures

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£70,000

Electric power transmission and distribution (centralised grids)

£0

£0

£0

£68,700

£0

£173,312

£0

£0

£242,012

Emergency food assistance

£128,041,086

£8,635,594

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£136,676,679

Employment creation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£255,005

£0

£0

-£255,005

Ending violence against women and girls

£21,461,697

£1,009,135

£0

£0

£0

£728,846

£3,068,578

£0

£26,268,255

Energy generation, renewable sources - multiple technologies

£0

£0

£0

-£889,376

£0

£1,200,806

£0

£0

£311,430

Energy policy and administrative management

£0

£50,553

£0

£158,146

£0

£368,287

£0

£0

£576,985

Energy research

£0

£0

£0

£23,688

£0

£147,098

£0

£0

£170,786

Energy sector policy, planning and administration

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,479,122

Environmental education/training

£0

£0

£48,668

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£48,668

Environmental policy and administrative management

£635,676

£6,904,699

£0

£24,064,426

£0

£4,380,855

£5,812,804

£0

£41,798,459

Environmental research

£0

£120,723

£0

£3,082,518

£0

£863,732

£0

£0

£4,066,974

Facilitation of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility

£0

£102,902

£0

£0

£0

£234,377

£0

£0

£337,279

Family planning

£265,080

£565,862

£0

£0

£0

£102,500

£3,660,244

£0

£4,593,686

Financial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£507,690

£0

£0

£301,387

£0

£809,077

Formal sector financial intermediaries

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

£0

£0

£0

£0

£49,665

Health education

£338,898

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,770

£0

£0

£558,668

Health personnel development

£0

£273,503

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£273,503

Health policy and administrative management

£0

£1,760,392

£0

£3,122,660

£0

£2,298,530

£343,452

£0

£7,525,034

Higher education

£911,301

£649,203

£172,288

£2,693,479

£214,955

£434,329

£1,992,063

£395,690

£7,463,308

Human rights

£0

£1,775,384

£0

£0

£183,646

£0

£0

£0

£1,959,030

Immediate post-emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation

£4,081,072

£2,602,056

£0

£0

£0

£1,382,031

£12

£0

£8,065,171

Industrial development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£317,516

£0

£0

£317,516

Industrial policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,102,394

£0

£0

£1,102,394

Infectious disease control

£0

£344,911

£0

£106,589

£0

£721,591

£3,657

£0

£1,176,748

Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£65,012

£0

£129,305

£0

£0

£1,327,810

Information and communication technology (ICT)

£0

£277,978

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£277,978

Legal and judicial development

£0

£562,328

£0

£0

£207,433

£219,762

£1,059,545

£23,435

£2,072,502

Legislatures and political parties

£0

£0

£0

£0

£86,128

£28,936

£0

£0

£115,064

Livestock

£1,133,493

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,133,493

Low-cost housing

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

£0

£0

£0

£0

£7,590

Material relief assistance and services

£133,863,525

£7,210,063

£0

£0

£0

£367,000

£13,753,266

£1,840,000

£157,033,854

Media and free flow of information

£0

£27,380

£0

£0

£85,021

£201,771

£0

£0

£314,172

Medical research

£0

£349,577

£0

£3,227,794

£0

£153,028

£1,625,422

£0

£5,355,821

Medical services

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

£0

£0

£0

£0

£19,694

Monetary institutions

£0

£0

£0

-£4,122,509

£0

£367,746

£0

£0

-£3,754,763

Multi-hazard response preparedness

£0

£3,119,353

£0

£0

£0

£2,296,059

-£346,074

£0

£5,069,339

Multisector aid

£10,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£10,000,000

Multisector education/training

£179,070

£2,964,257

£0

£10,757,244

£0

£1,082,590

£5,089,541

£1,148,813

£21,221,516

Participation in international peacekeeping operations

-£26,486,939

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£26,486,939

Personnel development for population and reproductive health

£0

£628,071

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£628,071

Population policy and administrative management

£0

£63,206

£0

£0

£0

£49,325

£159,552

£0

£272,083

Primary education

£677,795

£1,749,487

£0

£96,754

£0

£0

£1,368,615

£0

£3,892,652

Privatisation

£4,424

£0

£0

£62,081

£0

£0

£0

£0

£66,505

Public finance management (PFM)

£0

-£4,128,373

£0

£0

£0

£820,701

£1,854,023

£0

-£1,453,650

Public sector policy and administrative management

£34,999

£576,042

£0

£859,780

£0

£789,046

£91,270

£0

£2,351,137

Relief co-ordination and support services

£59,853,084

£2,072,828

£0

£0

£0

£0

£6,022,939

£0

£67,948,851

Removal of land mines and explosive remnants of war

£5,000,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£5,000,000

Reproductive health care

£1,369,857

£1,435,386

£0

£52,362

£0

£490,359

£1,851,776

£0

£5,199,740

Research/scientific institutions

£378,625

£1,287,873

-£72,577

£740,328

£0

£1,049,080

£908,916

£2,760

£4,295,005

Road transport

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£2,256,726

£1,800

£0

£1,121,383

Rural development

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£202,165

£0

£0

£202,165

Security system management and reform

£0

£43,536

£0

£0

£458,799

£69,946

£0

£0

£572,281

Site preservation

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development

£5,530

£0

£0

£1,245,753

£0

£0

£0

£0

£1,251,283

Social Protection

£0

£1,351,346

£0

£39,879

£0

-£345,949

£226,615

£0

£1,271,891

Solar energy for centralised grids

£0

£0

£0

£117,792

£0

£648,694

£0

£0

£766,486

Statistical capacity building

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£353,100

£0

£0

£353,100

Teacher training

£0

£508,061

£0

£0

£0

£0

£663,698

£0

£1,171,759

Trade facilitation

£5,530

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£133,722

£0

£139,252

Trade policy and administrative management

£6,637

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£203,275

£0

£209,912

Transport policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£69,054

£0

£128,892

£1,200

£0

£199,146

Tuberculosis control

£0

£29,991

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£29,991

Upper Secondary Education (modified and includes data from 11322)

£338,898

£897,000

£0

£0

£0

£0

£985,293

£0

£2,221,190

Urban development

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

£0

£0

£0

£0

£542,146

Urban development and management

£0

£1,050,000

£0

£78,000

£0

£695,269

£781,523

£0

£2,604,792

Vocational training

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£646,527

£0

£0

£646,527

Waste management/disposal

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

£0

£0

£0

£0

£14,424

Water resources conservation (including data collection)

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£219,574

£0

£0

£219,574

Water sector policy and administrative management

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£31,842

£0

£0

£31,842

Water supply - large systems

£0

£0

£0

£0

£0

£737,655

£0

£0

£737,655

Water supply and sanitation - large systems

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

£0

£0

£0

£0

-£1,137,143

Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions

£0

£1,800,998

£0

£0

£0

£59,406

£1,444,631

£0

£3,305,036

Grand Total

£352,405,092

£54,672,670

£148,379

£45,728,404

£1,633,288

£37,241,408

£57,842,803

£4,580,830

£554,252,874


Written Question
Horizon IT System
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what weighting the Post Office Horizon compensation scheme gives to individual sub-postmaster’s (a) mental health, (b) physical health and (c) family circumstances when calculating compensation offers.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Across the compensation schemes, cases are assessed individually on their facts in accordance with established legal principles. On the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) and GLO scheme, postmasters can claim for any losses they have experienced as a result of Horizon shortfalls. Similarly, postmasters with overturned convictions can claim for any loss they have suffered as a result of their conviction. These losses can include the impact on their mental or physical health.

Where family members have also been affected, the joint losses are also recoverable under the various Horizon-related compensation schemes.


Written Question
Courts: Bury South
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of court cases in Bury South constituency.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We are pursuing a number of measures at a national level that will contribute to the reduction of cases in the Bury South constituency, to tackle the outstanding caseload across all jurisdictions.

Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ court, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 353,900 at the end of September 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly.

To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we have invested over £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of new magistrates, and launched a new marketing campaign to target a more diverse pool of potential magistrates and raise the overall profile of the magistracy.

At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload.

We have introduced a raft of measures to achieve this aim. We are on course to deliver over 100,000 sitting days this year for the third financial year running, alongside recruiting more than 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions.

Judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases, with disposals up by 9% during Q3 in 2023 compared to Q4 in 2022 (25,700 compared to 23,700). However, an increase in cases coming before the Crown Court throughout 2023 has caused the outstanding caseload to increase, and it stood at 66,500 at the end of September 2023.

Data on the outstanding caseload at Crown Court centre level is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Crown Court centres can be found at: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

We are also investing more in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings across the next two years, up to March 2025.

In the Family Court, we are working closely with system partners to drive forward a cross-cutting programme of work to address delays and inefficiencies in the system and to ensure cases are ready to be heard when they reach court.

We are committed to meeting the 26-week statutory requirement for public law cases, and the Government is investing an extra £10 million to develop new initiatives to support this.

In addition, we remain committed to supporting more families to reach agreement on their children and finance arrangements earlier and, where appropriate, without court involvement. As of February 2024, over 25,400 families have successfully used the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme to attempt to resolve their disputes outside of court. We are investing up to £23.6 million, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025.

With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have launched the biggest ever judicial recruitment drive for District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation.

We announced in July 2023 that we would introduce a requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service, starting with specified money claims. This requirement will start in the spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.

With regards to tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have already contributed to the caseload falling and remaining below its pandemic peak.

We are working on completing the programme of reform in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, and the judiciary have recently introduced a virtual region pilot to provide additional judicial capacity and flexibility in how appeals are heard and disposed of.


Written Question
Visas: Married People
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementing the proposed increase in minimum income requirements for spouse and partner visa applications.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

From 11 April 2024, we will raise the minimum income threshold for Family visas to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas. We will incrementally increase the threshold, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold is set) by early 2025.

The Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change in due course.

A fact sheet and an impact assessment can be found on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail

and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.

The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and which will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.