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Question
The MP's question or point. Include their concern, local impact, or criticism. 2-4 sentences.
Minister reply
The minister's response to THIS specific MP. Include commitments, rebuttals, details. 2-4 sentences.
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Question
The Secretary of State paints a rosy picture, and I wonder whether he is making the fatal mistake of believing his own hype. Let me remind the House of the state of the justice system under his watch. The backlog in the Crown court is now a staggering 51,000 cases, and in the magistrates court there are record numbers of outstanding cases—around half a million.
Minister reply
I listened very carefully to the right hon. Gentleman, and I am afraid that, as is sadly so often the case, his peroration was a direct contradiction of the reality of what is happening on the ground across the justice system. We acted from the outset to protect lives, to protect staff and to make sure that our prisons were safe, and the results are well-known.
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Question
Thanking the Lord Chancellor, Bob Neill raises concerns about the need for a multi-year settlement to maintain progress in reforming and improving the courts system post-pandemic. He also asks for an update on the reduction of backlog in Crown courts.
Minister reply
While not prejudging the Chancellor's decision, Robert Buckland assures that work is being done looking beyond one year only with evidence-based proposals. He notes the £105 million extra for court maintenance and a multi-year prison capital programme. The minister also provides encouraging figures on Crown courts progress towards pre-covid baseline.
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Question
Thanking the Lord Chancellor, Joanna Cherry addresses Scottish justice matters and raises questions about sexual offences obligations under Strasbourg Convention, employment tribunal applications during pandemic, and limitation periods for claims.
Minister reply
Robert Buckland assures that cases are prioritised in courts considering the obligation to victims of sexual offences. He shares statistics on serious offences being listed for trial between now and spring 2021. On employment tribunals, he confirms reaching pre-covid levels due to increased technology use and more allocated funding next year.
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Question
Shaun Bailey requests an all-encompassing lessons learned approach as the Minister reviews challenges during the pandemic.
Minister reply
Robert Buckland agrees and notes that the court reform programme will continue to improve technology on the court estate, with learning from the use of technology and remote hearings.
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Question
Agreeing with the Lord Chancellor on an efficient justice system being fundamental for democracy, Tony Lloyd highlights the impact of cuts on the courts service and seeks assurance on setting targets to avoid delays in cases involving child victims of sexual violence.
Minister reply
Robert Buckland pays tribute to Tony Lloyd's experience as a police and crime commissioner. He provides details about the final roll-out of section 28 cross-examination, allowing for video cross-examinations before trial hearings.
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Question
The biggest cause of homelessness is the end of a private sector tenancy. The Government rightly took action to prevent evictions during the pandemic but will there be widespread concern about possession orders after 11 January? What are the proposals?
Minister reply
Since August, the period required for possession actions has been increased to six months, ensuring that cases might not complete until towards the end of 2021. Safeguards have been put in place by the judiciary to ensure the interests and rights of tenants are protected.
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Question
As my right hon. Friend has already spelt out, two of the 86 courts closed under this Government were Halifax county and family court and Calderdale magistrates court. Promises of video links and technological revolution have not materialized; why not reopen some of them to ease pressure on other regional courts?
Minister reply
We are considering reopening courts where buildings are still in the control or ownership of HMCTS and are in a suitable condition. Over 60 courtrooms can be developed across the country as part of phase 3, and cloud video technology has been rolled out to every courtroom.
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Mike Wood
Con
Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
Question
What progress has my right hon. Friend made in bringing down the number of outstanding cases, and what further action is he taking?
Minister reply
Since August, the overall number of cases being dealt with has exceeded the number coming into the courts. We are working on the basis that we can return to pre-covid levels by spring to middle of next year.
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Question
Safety for security guards in courts was a concern before the pandemic, and now safety concerns have been raised around PPE and physical distancing. What is being done to ensure that court staff feel safe?
Minister reply
In the spending review, £43 million was allocated for further covid safety measures in our courts and prisons. A redesign of buildings and use of extra capacity are part of the programme; plexiglass and perspex installations help with social distancing.
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Question
Several constituents have written to me concerned about delays to probate. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on delays to probate?
Minister reply
Waiting times for digital cases are currently between two and five weeks, whereas paper applications take between four and six weeks. Individual cases are looked at by officials, and we aim to ease the burden on bereaved families.
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Question
The ban on evictions included antisocial behaviour cases but now that the ban is being lifted, will courts give priority to dealing with such cases? What action can Members take to ensure these are dealt with expeditiously?
Minister reply
Judiciary have created a sensible series of practice guidance about how to deal with such cases; individual delay issues could be raised from HM Courts and Tribunals.
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Question
Thanking the Justice Secretary for additional funding for victim support, will a proportion of this funding be ring-fenced specifically to support children who are victims of sexual crimes? Will he meet me to discuss protecting child victims?
Minister reply
Funding has been awarded to 91 rape support centres in England and Wales. An additional £4 million until March 2022 will go towards funding for 120 new independent sexual violence advisers, addressing concerns raised.
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Question
Delays in the Court of Protection are quite extraordinary. If he has not got the figures now, will he write to me to tell us how we will get this backlog back down to normal?
Minister reply
I am grateful for raising this matter with me before and will write with as much up-to-date information as possible.
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Question
Delays mean that people who have suffered for so long at Medomsley youth offenders institute are further delayed. What additional funding is being put in place for the courts? Will he assure me that every effort will be made to expedite historical sex abuse cases such as those of the people who suffered at Medomsley?
Minister reply
£337 million is being spent on the criminal justice system in the year ahead, addressing not only the covid pressure but also other issues.
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Question
The hon. Member raised concerns about the HM Courts & Tribunals Service's approach to risk assessments, citing disagreements with unions over templates for these assessments.
Minister reply
The Minister stated that local initiative is crucial and highlighted unique differences between court buildings, noting that Public Health England provides guidance on safety measures.
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Question
My right hon. Friend welcomed the efforts to ensure courts operate in a safe environment during the pandemic and asked about prioritising youth justice cases.
Minister reply
The Minister confirmed existing protocols for early hearings of child-related cases, noted a reduction in numbers of children in secure settings, and highlighted improvements in education and skills training.
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Question
The hon. Member sought an update on the independent review of administrative law and queried if environmental judicial reviews are being protected.
Minister reply
The Minister assured that the principle of judicial review is upheld and indicated ongoing work regarding the Aarhus convention, with a report expected soon.
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Question
The hon. Member questioned the impact of public sector pay freezes on HMCTS staff morale and efficiency.
Minister reply
The Minister acknowledged difficult choices due to financial constraints but noted targeted support for lower-earning individuals, with additional pay increments under consideration.
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Question
My right hon. Friend thanked the Minister for efforts in keeping the justice system operational and asked about plans for virtual proceedings and administrative staff shortages.
Minister reply
The Minister confirmed plans to recruit more staff, including 800 already recruited with 200 in training, aimed at reducing backlogs.
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Question
The hon. Member discussed delays affecting victims and defendants, particularly regarding mental health support.
Minister reply
The Minister highlighted increased funding for victims' services and ongoing work on liaison and diversion services to address mental health needs.
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Question
My hon. Friend paid tribute to magistrates' efforts during the pandemic and inquired about plans for extending their retirement age.
Minister reply
The Minister acknowledged the recruitment campaign and indicated consideration of findings from a concluded consultation on retirement ages.
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Question
My hon. Friend enquired about HMCTS's plans to manage virtual remand hearings as police forces resume normal duties.
Minister reply
The Minister praised Devon and Cornwall Police, noting joint work between the Home Office and Ministry of Justice on practical solutions for video remand hearings.
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Question
The hon. Member expressed concern about delayed court dates until 2023, stressing that justice delayed is justice denied.
Minister reply
The Minister reassured the House that no cases are actually listed for 2023, with listings to 2022 and plans to reduce backlogs in the year ahead.
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Question
Following on from the answer that my right hon. and learned Friend gave to our hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South, will he tell us when he is going to make his response? I have a private Member’s Bill down for 29 January and it would be useful to have had a response from the Government, preferably before the end of this year, so that we can draft a Bill appropriately. May I also ask my right hon. and learned Friend about the attitude of the Bar? We have read reports that barristers are planning to go on strike, because they do not like the idea of having to work longer hours. Will he condemn any such behaviour?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for taking such an interest in the magistrates’ retirement age. I undertake that I will work in a way that means we may dovetail our separate efforts with regard to his private Member’s Bill. I will come back to him before then. With regard to my colleagues and friends at the Bar, a consultation is going on about covid operating hours to allow the courts to sit for two sittings a day in some court centres. I will await the outcome of the consultation—it is only right for me to do that—but may I appeal to the better angels of our nature on court recovery? Those at the Bar are doing a tremendous job—let us stay positive and stick together, and we will get this sorted.
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Question
We have 30% fewer criminal legal aid firms than in 2010, and a quarter of those have disappeared in the past year alone. The criminal legal aid review is not due to be published until the end of next year. How many firms is the right hon. and learned Gentleman prepared to see disappear before he acts?
Minister reply
We are acting. The second phase of the criminal legal aid review will be announced shortly, and the independent review can get on with its important work. I am acutely aware of the issues with regard to criminal defence solicitors—the problem predates 2010, I am afraid to tell the hon. Gentleman—but I want to ensure that we have a viable market and that solicitors and barristers are paid properly for the actual work that they are doing. That is why we need an update in the system.
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Question
My right hon. and learned Friend will have heard me speak before about the Chris Donovan Trust and its amazing work in Carshalton and Wallington and elsewhere to encourage restorative justice, after Ray and Vi Donovan met their son Chris’s killers. Will my right hon. and learned Friend assure me that, as we tackle the backlog in cases, restorative justice is offered as a matter of routine throughout the justice process?
Minister reply
I pay tribute to the Donovan Trust and my hon. Friend’s work with it. I am a big supporter of restorative justice, but it needs to be victim-led. It is important that any decisions with regard to it very much involve the victims first, rather than it becoming some sort of pro forma, which would be a negation of what restorative justice should be about. It needs to be meaningful, and that is what I believe will continue to happen right through this crisis and beyond.
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Question
The Istanbul convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence imposes obligations on the state to ensure that investigations and judicial proceedings on all forms of violence covered by the convention are carried out without undue delay and that they take into consideration the rights of the victim at all stages of the criminal proceedings. The Scottish Government are working hard to ensure that, despite the pandemic, those obligations are complied with. Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman assure me that the UK Government take the obligations equally seriously?
Minister reply
I refer the hon. Lady exactly to my response to the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry), who asked a question in very similar terms. The hon. Lady is right to ask that, and we do take that obligation extremely seriously indeed and are working to meet it at all times.
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Question
One of the things that we have heard in the Justice Committee is of a reduction in violence in prisons as a result of the lockdown. Will my right hon. and learned Friend assure me that we will look at what we can learn from a positive point of view from that fall?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend takes a keen interest in such matters. He is absolutely right to talk about a reduction in violence. Clearly, we need to look maturely and carefully at the overall impact of what has happened in our prisons. It is clear to me that we are working hard in this second wave to ensure purposeful activity and meaningful exercise, as well as more educational opportunities. Looking to get the balance right and ensuring that prisoners feel safe is our No. 1 priority.
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Question
In 2016, the Conservatives pledged 10,000 extra prison places by 2020. They have managed only 200. Unsurprisingly, they recycled that old pledge last year by promising another 10,000, but the Ministry of Justice has informed us that the business case has not even been approved yet, so why should anyone believe this latest announcement that the Government will provide 18,000 new prison places?
Minister reply
I urge the hon. Gentleman to look at the evidence. We have carried out the building of Wellingborough Prison on time and on budget, and despite covid work is beginning at Glen Parva. We have a very refined and standardised programme, which involves modern methods of construction. I am satisfying myself that those responsible are managing it in a professional way, and these numbers are additional numbers. It is the boldest and biggest prison building programme since Victorian times, and I am satisfied that we have the wherewithal to get this done, and that we can give confidence to those in the construction industry who want to get on with it and help us to build the prisons that we need for the future.
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Question
I thank the Lord Chancellor and his team for all their efforts in dealing with the pressures that covid has brought on the system and with getting the system back up and running. May I reflect at this time, though, the great sense of frustration that my constituents in Dudley North feel when they see that, often, sentences do not seem to be fit for purpose? Quite often, sentences do not match the crime that has been committed. Will he look at reviewing some of the guidance issued to the judiciary, so that better informed decisions are made as and when it is appropriate?
Minister reply
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Of course he knows that sentencing guidelines are a matter for the independent Sentencing Council, but he will be delighted to read the sentencing White Paper, which includes further measures to deal with the incarceration of serious violent sexual offenders for longer periods before release. The necessary legislation will follow in the new year to take a range of measures on serious crime, and I know that he and his constituents will be supporting them enthusiastically.
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Question
The statement had the air of the Lord Chancellor congratulating himself in case no one else remembered to, but that may be somewhat premature. The criminal courts recovery plan claimed that 266 trials a week would be completed in October, but the actual figure was 160. The Justice Committee was told this week that we will not be getting back to pre-covid backlog figures at any time soon, nor should we be. Does not that sound more like complacency than competence?
Minister reply
No, it certainly does not. The hon. Gentleman is, I am afraid, wrong when he talks about the figure of 266. What that was about was courtrooms. In fact, it was 250 courtrooms to deal with jury trials. We exceeded that target at the end of October. As I was explaining to my hon. Friend the Chair of the Justice Committee, the overall figure with regard to effective trials, cracked trials and trials that are vacated because of a guilty plea acceptable to the Crown or a plea to the indictment, is now well in excess of 300 a week and is coming back to pre-covid levels. I am not complacent, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have been working daily on this issue and I care as much as everybody else about our courts and prison system, hence the urgency that we have placed upon the work that we are doing.
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Question
Research from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service shows that a disproportionately large number of cracked trials in the criminal courts are due to late guilty pleas, with many defendants relying on the fact that key witnesses may be unable or unwilling to testify the longer that the pre-trial process takes. With this being a particular issue in cases of domestic and sexual violence, where victims are overwhelmingly women, can the Lord Chancellor please tell the House what equality impact assessment has taken place on the impact of delays in cases being heard?
Minister reply
May I assure the hon. Lady that as a matter of day-to-day practice those issues are very much built in to the system, as is the need to prioritise those cases? She is absolutely right to talk about the problems about witnesses losing heart or victims themselves feeling let down by the system, and that is why we have continued to improve the way in which we use remote technology. The section 28 roll-out is a further measure that will support vulnerable witnesses and victims.
I have seen, not only over the past few years, but over many years in practice, a real sea change in how we deal with these sorts of cases. More needs to be done, and the hon. Lady will be glad to know about the increased investment in independent sexual violence advisers, which are a key element in supporting victims of crime right from the beginning of that early police investigation, because it is at that point that often things go horribly wrong for victims of sexual crime, and it is that work that we are going to be doing. We can talk further about this matter, and I would be happy to engage with her directly about it.