Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost to the public purse was for legal fees relating to the Shamima Begum case.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Please note that legal aid is not paid directly to the individual in receipt of legal aid. Legal aid is paid to legal representatives to ensure access to justice.
The scope of immigration and asylum matters covered by legal aid are set out at Schedule 1 to Part 1 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
In civil legal aid cases an applicant must satisfy both a merits and strict financial eligibility test to qualify for legal aid (unless a specific exemption applies). If they do not satisfy these tests, then legal aid will not be made available to them. Applicants who meet the relevant financial eligibility thresholds may still be required to pay a significant contribution towards the costs of their case. The eligibility criteria are kept under review as the case progresses and legal aid may be withdrawn where they are no longer satisfied.
As at the time of writing, a total of £246,097.34 has been paid to legal aid providers in connection with representing Shamima Begum. A breakdown of these costs can be found in the table below:
Case Type | Matter/Proceeding | Start Date | End Date | Solicitors | Barristers | Total Costs |
Civil rep - Immigration | Special Immigration Appeals Commission - Asylum | 15/04/2019 | - | £0.00 | £238,000.34 | £238,000.34 |
Civil rep - Public Law | Action for Judicial Review - Pub Law | 23/08/2021 | - | £8,097.00 | £0.00 | £8,097.00 |
Total |
|
|
| £8,097.00 | £238,000.34 | £246,097.34 |
The costs include VAT and disbursements where applicable. Disbursements are expenses incurred which although paid by the Legal Aid Agency directly to legal aid providers, are then paid to other parties involved in the case.
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.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s 24/7 shared press and media team provides a wide-ranging service to ministers, the department and multiple agencies (including HMCTS, HMPPS, Legal Aid Agency, Office of the Public Guardian and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority). This includes proactive and reactive media handling, monitoring, planning, media training, event support and speechwriting. It is made up of 35 employees with roles ranging from grades HEO to SCS1. The grade salary ranges between £32,827 - £117,800 - this is departmental salary ranges, not actual salaries.
This figure is for the Ministry of Justice central departmental Press Office and Media team only.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department conducted a women-specific impact and health needs assessment prior to the roll out of the use of alcohol monitoring tags.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
There have been two equalities impact assessments, both of which considered offenders’ sex, prior to the Department’s introduction of alcohol monitoring.
An Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out on the alcohol monitoring measures introduced by the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, it is published and available using this link: Alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement (justice.gov.uk).
A further Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out and published alongside the Statutory Instrument to commence the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement, The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020, and is available using this link: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has received legal advice on the implications for his Department's policies of the International Court of Justice’s decision on the request for provisional measures in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We regularly review advice about Israel's capability and commitment to International Humanitarian Law and we act in accordance with that advice. We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ); however, we have stated that we have considerable concerns about this case, which is not helpful in the goal of achieving a sustainable ceasefire. Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in line with IHL, as we have said from the outset. Our view is that Israel's actions in Gaza cannot be described as a genocide, which is why we thought South Africa's decision to bring the case was wrong and provocative. The Court's call for the immediate release of hostages and the need to get more aid into Gaza is a position we have long advocated. We are clear that an immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.
Asked by: Lord Stone of Blackheath (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their response to the report from the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, Private prosecutions: safeguards (9th Report, Session 2019–21), in which they confirmed that a registry of private prosecutions would be made available, why this has not yet been made available; when this is expected to be made available; and how much taxpayer money was paid to legal firms prosecuting private prosecutions (other than legal aid) between 2015 and 2023.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton - Advocate General for Scotland
In 2020, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) undertook a review of private prosecutions and provided nine recommendations.
The Government agreed to two of these recommendations:
Private Prosecution Register
In the Government’s response to the JSC report, we agreed that a central register of private prosecutions would be introduced to include the names of the prosecutor and defendant, the offence in question, and whether the summons application was granted. This register was introduced by HMCTS in late 2021.
The register is not publicly accessible, and it was neither a recommendation made by the JSC report nor an undertaking agreed by the Government for it to be. The register contains personal data including where people have been accused of crimes where the court found there were no grounds to commence a prosecution. The register is a court record and there are no grounds provided under rules of court, the Data Protection Act 2018 or the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for these personal details to be released to the public.
Requests for non-personal information from the register are accessible through a Freedom of Information request to HMCTS.
Cost of Private Prosecutions
The Government has committed to bringing forward legislation to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant and will enact this when parliamentary time allows.
The assessment of claims and payment of prosecutors’ costs out of central funds for cases brought in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court is undertaken by the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Criminal Cases Unit (CCU) unless the court summarily assesses the claim under s.17(2B) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Information about central funds expenditure, including private prosecutions, is published on a quarterly basis within the LAA’s official statistics. A copy of the relevant data is attached at Annex A.
Other Recommendations
Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is examining, in detail, the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It is possible that this will provide insight on the extent to which the private prosecution regime played a role in this particular injustice.
The Government is, however, examining the wider question of private prosecutions and is therefore committed to looking again at the Justice Select Committee’s recommendations in their 2020 report as part of this work.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to tackle online disinformation disseminated by (a) hostile states and (b) people acting on behalf of hostile states.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of information threats to national security very seriously, including disinformation and misinformation.
The Online Safety Act, which received Royal Assent in October 2023, has added the Foreign Interference Offence as a priority offence. This will mean that platforms will have a legal duty to take proactive, preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-sponsored disinformation and other types of state-backed influence operations aimed at interfering with UK society. The offence will capture conduct which has been carried out for, on behalf of, or with the intent to benefit, a foreign power.
My officials and I also meet regularly with a range of social media platforms and international partners to aid our understanding of the spread of disinformation online and work underway to address this.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 removing access to legal aid for people who lose their entitlement to Universal Credit under measures announced in the Autumn statement on such people.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the (hon.) Member for York Central to the answer I gave on 12 December 2023 to questions 5538 and 5539 here.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of legal aid provision in (a) Stockport and (b) Greater Manchester.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area or Access Point, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one provider in each civil category per Procurement Area, outside Family Law where the minimum is five. Additionally, legal advice on a range of civil matters including housing, debt, discrimination and education is available, wherever people are, through the Civil Legal Advice telephone service.
The commissioning and monitoring of criminal legal aid services are undertaken at a national level. However, the LAA takes steps to ensure there is adequate coverage on each of its duty solicitor schemes. Provision under the duty solicitor scheme is demand led and so there may be variations in numbers across each local rota.
Information about the number of legal aid providers contracted to provide services are published as part of the LAA’s statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8]. These statistics are used by the LAA as management information to monitor the capacity of legal aid services over time, in different areas of law and different regions of England Wales.
The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate provision of services in Stockport and Greater Manchester across all categories of legal aid, including under the relevant duty solicitor schemes operating in the area.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on press and public relations in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Like any large operational organisation, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has press and public relation roles to work with the media to ensure the work of the department and its agencies is communicated to the public, as well as ensuring the department is able to attract and recruit sufficient staff to operate critical front line services.
MoJ operates a 24/7, 365-day press office that supports MoJ, HM Prison and Probation Service, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Legal Aid Agency, Office for the Public Guardian and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
In the face of an increasingly challenging recruitment market over recent years, the MoJ has stood up additional, separate PR support to generate applications for critical frontline roles, including prison and probation staff and magistrates, which has led to an increase in PR spend over this period. This has allowed the department to ensure its front line public services remain staffed and operational.
Below is a table showing the Ministry of Justice’s press and PR spend since 2019.
Year | Spend |
2019-2020 | £1,507,000 |
2020-2021 | £1,681,000 |
2021-2022 | £1,965,000 |
2022-2023 | £2,612,000 |
2023-2024 | We are unable to provide figures on unaudited/open accounts. |