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Heidi Alexander
LAB✓ Current MP
🏛️ Swindon South
📅 2010–2026
1,258 speeches on Hansard record
✅ Votes attended: 80.47% (#134 of 650 MPs)
🟢 Rebelled against party: 0.30%
📝 Topics: Land, Afghanistan, South London Healthcare NHS Trust
Written Answers
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Department for Education
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide a list stating the value of each grant that has been awarded by her Department to each academy sponsor matched to a school with an Academy Order; and what the average value is of those grants that have been made under the provisions…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016 to Question 42278, if she will list the (a) schools for which Academy Orders have been made, (b) sponsors matched to each of those schools, (c) local authority area in which each of those schools is located and (d)…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016 to Question 42278, what the average time taken has been to match a sponsor with a school once it has been judged by Ofsted to be failing since the Education and Adoption Act 2016 came into force.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how long, on average, it took to match sponsors with schools where an Academy Order was made in each year before the Education and Adoption Act 2016 came into force.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, (a) on how many occasions and (b) in relation to which schools since 2010 an Academy Order has been rescinded due to the inability of the Regional Schools Commissioner to secure a sponsor.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average period of time was between an Academy Order being issued and a sponsor being named for schools in each year since 2010.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidelines her Department has issued on the time to be taken by a Regional Schools Commissioner to name a sponsor for a school that has been issued with an Academy Order.
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Department for Exiting the European Union
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Prime Ministers speech of 2 March 2018 on the UK’s future economic partnership with the EU, what the definition is of self-employed professionals in relation to future labour mobility arrangements; and…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech of 2 March 2018 on the UK’s future economic partnership with the EU, whether the list of pan-European regulatory agencies to which the UK will be seeking long-term associate membership…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the National Audit Office Report, Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union, HC 593, published on 17 November 2017, if he will list the 313 work streams across government departments identified by that…
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Department for Transport
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Rail Accident Investigations Branch will be involved in the independent investigation into the response of Southeastern Trains and Network Rail to the self-evacuation of passengers on trains outside Lewisham Station on the evening of 2 March…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the oral contribution of 5 February 2018, Official Report, column 1248 on railway station accessibility, when he plans to make a decision on the funding to be allocated to station accessibility improvement works in Control Period 6.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to commence the second phase of the review of cycle safety announced on 21 September, into wider road safety issues.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2016 to Question 55749, what progress has been made by his Department's investment board in considering the business case submitted by Southeastern Railway for additional rolling stock.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made by Network Rail in certifying the power supply on the Southeastern network for use with rolling stock previously serving Thameslink routes.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many old Class 377 trains his Department is considering transferring from the Govia Thameslink Railway network to the Southeastern network.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2016 to Question 49274, if he will set out a timetable for delivering additional rolling stock on the Southeastern network in the current franchise period.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2016 to Question 50159, on which date his Department's Investment Board plans to consider the business case submitted by Southeastern Railway for additional rolling stock.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made by Network Rail in identifying stabling capacity for additional rolling stock on the Southeastern network.
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Department for Work and Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have applied to convert Support for Mortgage Interest payments into a loan.
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Department of Health
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the National Audit Office Report, Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union, HC 593, published on 17 November 2017, if he will (a) list the 31 work streams in his Department identified by the National Audit Office in that…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the UK hospitals participating in the European Reference Networks on rare diseases will continue to participate in those Networks in the event of the UK withdrawing from the EU.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on his plans to sell a majority shareholding in NHS Professionals.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timetable is for selling a majority shareholding in NHS Professionals.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what future contractual mechanisms he proposes to ensure that NHS Professionals meets the staffing needs of NHS trusts and delivers value for money to the taxpayer.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many expressions of interest he has received from potential joint venture partners in NHS Professionals; and what the names of those partners are.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what consultation he has carried out with (a) NHS trusts, (b) NHS staff and (c) the public of his plans to sell a majority shareholding in NHS Professionals.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital consultant posts are vacant; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is an adequate number of hospital consultants working in the NHS.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish specific guidance for clinical commissioning groups on the use of bisphosphonates for preventing secondary breast cancer.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on patients of the decision taken by Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group to place restrictions on routine surgery for patients who smoke or are clinically obese.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how NHS England plans to ensure that patients are not put at risk by the decision taken by Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group to place restrictions on routine surgery for patients who smoke or are clinically obese.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what purpose data on the nationality of NHS staff is recorded and published.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department (a) records and (b) publishes on the nationality of NHS staff.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is mandatory for NHS staff to report their nationality for NHS workforce data collection.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes have been made in 2016 to the level of data recorded and published on the nationality of NHS staff.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) standard and (b) higher rate for NHS-funded nursing care is for 2016-17.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust have not been implemented.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department last reported on what progress has been made implementing the recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 36036, for what reason the awareness campaign on the symptoms of serious infections in children is not being extended to all adults including those who are not parents.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information is provided to new mothers on spotting the signs and symptoms of sepsis in young children and infants.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department exceeded its expenditure limit in 2015-16.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department will make available for Public Health England's awareness campaign on the symptoms of serious infections; and what proportion of that funding will be spent on sepsis awareness.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which hospitals he has visited in an official capacity in 2016; and what the date was of each such visit.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which primary care services he has visited in an official capacity in 2016; and what the date was of each such visit.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which residential and nursing homes he has visited in an official capacity in 2016; and what the date was of each such visit.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what enhancement to pay rates officials in his Department receive for working on Saturdays and Sundays.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 on Question 30222, what further work in the collection and publication of data on secondary breast cancer by hospital trusts in England is being scoped.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 on Question 30222, when he expects that data on secondary breast cancer will be complete.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will publish a patient-friendly guide to inform responses to the consultation on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in the last three months.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's collection of data for secondary breast cancer.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure hospital trusts routinely collect and submit data on secondary breast cancer.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that secondary breast cancer patients have access to a clinical nurse specialist as part of their care.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Care Quality Commission has conducted an impact assessment of the proposed changes to the contract of Experts by Experience.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cancer clinical nurse specialists were working in the NHS in the latest period for which figures are available.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 27828, what the average change in the level of pay will be for those junior doctors not expected to experience a rise in earnings as a result of pay protection.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23092, how the figure of 10,000 for the number of additional training places universities will be able to provide by the end of the current Parliament was calculated.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 26014, what the baseline year is for the commitment to train 10,000 more nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals over the course of the current Parliament.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 26002, on NHS: training, when Health Education England will publish the local plans.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 25603, on NHS: Finance, how many meetings Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority has had with NHS trusts to agree plans to improve the financial position of those trusts since 5 February 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Oral Statement of 11 February 2016, Official Report, column 1763, on junior doctors' contracts, which senior NHS leaders asked him to proceed with the introduction of a new contract for junior doctors.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the average change in the level of pay for those junior doctors who will be offered pay protection as part of the transition to a new contract.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what risk assessment was carried out on his policy to impose a new contract on junior doctors.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 25603, on NHS: finance, with which seven trusts Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority have met since 15 January 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2015 to Question 14327, on junior doctors: conditions of employment, whether future junior doctors will receive a salary equivalent in real terms to the salary guaranteed to the current cohort of junior doctors to whom…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 5 January 2016, Official Report, column 18, what the baseline year is for the commitment to train 10,000 more nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals over the course of the Parliament.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Health Education England spent on clinical placements for (a) nursing, (b) midwifery and (c) allied health students in the latest year for which figures are available.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding his Department has set aside for managing the transition from NHS bursaries to student loans for new nursing, midwifery and allied health students from 1 August 2017.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place in the Library copies of each Local Education and Training Board's workforce investment plan for 2016-17.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many meetings have taken place between NHS Improvement and NHS trusts to agree plans to improve their financial position since 15 January; which providers have had such meetings with NHS Improvement; and when each such meeting took place.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of alcohol misuse in each of the last five years.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on public health of rising levels of alcohol consumption in England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20039, on cancer drugs, if he will place in the Library a copy of the draft impact assessment for NHS England's consultation on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund; for what reasons NHS England has…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support the implementation of the UK Chief Medical Officer's proposed new alcohol guidelines, published in January 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 5 January 2016, Official Report, column 18, what the evidential basis is for the statement that changes to nurses' training will allow for training 10,000 more nurses over the course of the current Parliament.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 11 January 2016, Official Report, column 238WH, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of unsuccessful applicants for nursing…
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what dates ACAS conciliation talks between his Department and the BMA on the junior doctors' dispute have taken place; at what time each such meeting started and finished; and for what dates future such meetings are planned.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people aged 65 and over suffered a hip fracture as a result of a fall in each year since 2009-10.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many residents of care homes had an emergency admission to a hospital in 2014-15.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many falls among people aged 65 and over led to a hospital admission in each year since 2009-10; and what the five most frequent types of such falls resulting in such admissions were.
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Department of Health and Social Care
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is a requirement for online sellers of testing kits for sexually transmitted infections to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what duties online sexually transmitted infection testing services have to follow best practice in respect of safeguarding and child protection issues.
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Home Office
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Police Scotland’s violence reduction unit in Glasgow, and whether she has plans to replicate the work of that unit in England.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK residents with limited leave to remain with no recourse to public funds subsequently made an application to have the no recourse to public funds terms lifted in each year from 2010 to 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to lift no recourse to public funds terms were granted in each year from 2010 to 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for limited leave to remain were granted with no recourse to public funds in each year from 2010 to 2016.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants who have been refused a settlement visa have subsequently been refused a visitor's visa in each year since 2010.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants who have been refused a settlement visa have subsequently obtained a visitor's visa in each year since 2010.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to provide additional funding for English language tuition for refugees who gain settlement rights in the UK under the standard procedure for claiming asylum.
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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to provide additional funding for English language tuition for refugees on the Gateway Protection Resettlement Programme.
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Ministry of Justice
We have been considering the findings of the independent review to help inform the development of new tender specifications. This is a complex process and covers a wide range of agencies within the Ministry of Justice. Once all internal governance has been completed the review will be released, we…
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The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.Although HMCTS holds data on the total amount of impositions outstanding at an enforcement accounting division level, we do not report on it at an individual court level. To access the court level detail, each account in that…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions at magistrates’ courts in England and Wales for non-payment of a television licence, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool. This includes breakdowns by police force area. The data tool can be downloaded from the Criminal…
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There is no central data available on the proportion of court fine payments made through benefit deduction payments. Gathering this information would incur disproportionate cost.
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This Government inherited a legal aid system facing significant challenges. The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a lengthy, evidence-based, and wholesale review of the operation of civil legal aid across all eleven categories of civil legal aid, including welfare benefits, known as the…
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Tribunals, including the Employment Tribunals, are designed to be expert, accessible, low cost and without a need for legal representation. Legal aid is available for legal advice and assistance in relation to discrimination cases which fall under the Equality Act 2010 and some earlier…
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The table below shows the number of Magistrates’ Courts that have permanently closed in each financial year (FY) since 2010/11. The figures do not include integrations, where workload remained in the local area by transferring to a building in close proximity, or courts that are temporarily…
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There are no plans to reform the law. The courts determine individual applications for interim injunctions to restrain publication of confidential information (and the existence of the injunction) on the merits of each case, and in accordance with the law and specific Practice Guidance. The…
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Magistrates that sit at Telford Magistrates’ Court are appointed to the Shropshire Bench. The Shropshire Bench covers Telford and Kidderminster Magistrates Court and the magistrates may be required to sit at any of these courts. The table below shows the number of magistrates on the…
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Information about appeals to the First-Tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. The table below sets out the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal against decisions made by Surrey County Council about…
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Management Information on the open workable caseload is published in Table 5 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmcts-management-information. Data below national level is not available.Bequests to charities do not influence the probate process, so HMCTS does not collect this data.…
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The Crown Court sitting at Shrewsbury is accommodated across two sites, in Shrewsbury Justice Centre and Telford Justice Centre. In total, there are three courtrooms dedicated to Crown Court use.For each of the last six years (i.e. since 2019/20), two Circuit Judges have been based permanently at…
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Criminal CourtsThe Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. We have already shown we are committed to bearing down on the caseload and bringing waiting times down.This Government has increased the number of Crown Court sitting days…
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The decision to hold a hearing remotely, or enable participants to attend remotely, rests with the judiciary. HM Courts and Tribunal Service continues to support and enable remote hearings by optimising the courts and tribunals estate and building technological capability. This empowers the…
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The Employment Tribunals Act 1996 and the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 (“the Rules”) govern how cases are handled in employment tribunals. Orders for anonymity are primarily governed by rule 50 of the Rules. This provides the employment tribunals the power to make an…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted, including for ‘Improper use of public electronic communications network’ which will include hoax calls. This can be obtained by using HO offence code 19607 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool,…
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To ensure increased and ongoing efficiency of County Court bailiff resources, HMCTS has introduced dedicated regional teams alongside an automated payment line to reduce the need for enforcement visits. This enables bailiffs to focus on priority work, including evictions. HMCTS continues to carry…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions for a wide range of offences, including TV licence evasion up to and including 2023 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.This…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the average duration for various stages of the criminal justice system for defendants by offence group, including theft, from 2014 to 2023 (latest available) in the ‘End-to-end timeliness tool’ as part of Criminal Court Statistics…
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Courts have been reminded that no targets have been set for the number of cases to be completed in a session.Listing is a judicial responsibility and function. Local Judicial Business Groups decide how much work is assigned to court hearings, including Single Justice Procedure (SJP) sessions. If a…
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Magistrates are free to take as long as they need when making decisions on any criminal case, including those dealt with under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP). There is no set target for the number of cases decided in an SJP session and courts have been reminded of this.We have not discussed…
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I understand transcripts may help individuals obtain closure from traumatic events.Since May 2024, the Ministry of Justice has been running a pilot providing free sentencing remarks to victims of rape and serious sexual offences. We will be evaluating the pilot to understand cost, uptake and impact…
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We have interpreted this question as in reference to the Crown Court outstanding caseload in Lincolnshire. We inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog from the previous Government and we are committed to tackling it.We are pursuing a number of measures at a national level that will…
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The Ministry of Justice ran a Call for Evidence from 11 May to 7 September 2023 under the previous Government. It was the first system-wide public assessment on open justice and transparency in over ten years. The consultation received a wide volume of responses that are being carefully analysed…
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This question has been interpreted to mean spend for all language services, both translation and interpretation provided in a court setting, and for printed materials available in HMCTS buildings.Information is not held disaggregated as (a) translation and (b) interpretation but has been provided…
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There are no current plans to extend the standard sitting hours of the Crown Court.The Lord Chancellor has a statutory duty to ensure there is an effective and efficient system to support the carrying on of the businesses of the courts, and that appropriate services are provided for those…
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The Lord Chancellor has not yet had the opportunity to discuss the courts and tribunals across England and Wales, including the backlogs that some jurisdictions face, with the Northern Ireland Justice Minister. Ministry of Justice ministers are hopeful that they will have the opportunity to discuss…
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We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the…
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It is important that the infrastructure of our courts does not prevent hearings from taking place.HMCTS has a facilities management contract with Equans for undertaking routine court maintenance which has delivered over 30,000 routine maintenance jobs across the court and tribunal estate since 1…
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Under the current system, the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a prescribed paper form, which to be used must be made validly and registered by Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). The form can be completed online but must then be printed, signed, and sent to OPG for processing.LPAs are private…
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We are aware of the reduced number of journalists to cover magistrates' proceedings. The Ministry of Justice is committed to open justice and ensuring that the media can report on proceedings effectively. Allowing the public to scrutinise and understand court processes helps to build trust and…
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The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System and we are committed to reducing the caseload and bringing waiting times down.We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve - however, we recognise that…
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We have taken your question to mean what steps are being taken to tackle the outstanding caseload across all jurisdictions. We are pursuing a number of measures at a national level that will contribute to the reduction of cases in Kent.Criminal Courts More than 90 per cent of all criminal cases are…
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I refer the honourable Member to our GOV.UK page where we now publish monthly management information on the progress of the Post Office Convictions casework team. This page can be found at: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024: Quashed convictions management information - GOV.UK…
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I am satisfied that the question of whether, and in what form, to publish judgments is properly a judicial function. The judge is best placed to determine these matters in individual cases.
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This Government is determined to ensure the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) operates fairly and transparently. We are currently reviewing potential changes to the Procedure and will consider legislative reform if necessary. As it stands, there are multiple points in the SJP process where a defendant…
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The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) Notice is a prosecutor notice which is issued and served by the prosecutor.The rules governing service of SJP Notices is covered by Rule 4 of the Criminal Procedure Rules - The Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).There is no requirement for an SJP…
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This Government fully recognises that access to legal aid is central to helping those individuals who are unable to afford legal services to resolve their legal issues – provided it is in scope and meets the merits test. We are giving careful consideration to the criteria that govern…
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The attached table shows the number of people prosecuted under the Single Justice Procedure in 2023 by Prosecutor type.Table (xlsx, 18.2KB)
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The attached table shows the number of people prosecuted under the Single Justice Procedure by offence in each month of 2023 and the plea rates for offences charged in the same period.Table (xlsx, 60.9KB)
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Single Justice Procedure Notices are served by the individual prosecutors and not the magistrates’ court. We therefore do not hold the data in relation to the number of notices that went undelivered in 2023.
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Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the Judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275…
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Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275…
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Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275…
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The consultation to introduce Employment Tribunal fees was published under the last Government and no decisions have yet been made on the proposal.
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The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme operates in respect of qualifying sentences passed in the Crown Court, where the offender has been convicted of: (a) an indictable only offence (such as murder, manslaughter and rape); and/or (b) certain either-way offences specified by order(s). This is…
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The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. The caseload has risen in recent years as a result of the pandemic and an increase in cases coming before the criminal courts.To address this, we plan to sit 106,500 working days at the…
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The Ministry of Justice only holds data on possession proceedings issued at court. We do not hold data on all eviction proceedings, such as those where a tenant leaves the property voluntarily following receipt of a notice.Statistics on the number of possession claims are published here: Mortgage…
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Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the Judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275…
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Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.In June, the Judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275…
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I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 10 October 2024 to Question 7538: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.Decisions on publishing judgments, including those judgments of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier…
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This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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Any individual is entitled, and should be encouraged, to report anything they believe to be criminal behaviour, however they became aware of it, to the police.Section 12 of the Police Reform Act 2022 sets out that to use the police complaints system, a person (member of the public) must have been…
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We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings. HMCTS continues to invest in…
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The decision whether to publish a judgment is a judicial one.Judgments of the Special Education Needs and Disability jurisdiction of the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal are not routinely published.However, members of the public and the media can apply to the…
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The central office for the Court of Protection installed a new telephone system on 29 April 2024. This has helped the court to monitor demand and move resource to address peak call times as well as using the interactive voice response technology to direct callers to the most appropriate place for…
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The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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The decision to centralise remand hearings in the West Mercia area was a judicial decision taken by the local Judicial Business Group in 2017 following full public consultation. The decision was based on remand court volumes prevailing at the time, and enabled other courts in the area to improve…
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The Government is unable to comment on individual cases. Anyone who has had their conviction quashed in an out of time appeal is able to apply for compensation under the statutory Miscarriage of Justice Application Service (MOJAS). The Law Commission is undertaking a review of the criminal appeals…
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Criminal justice policies have advanced in the 33 years since Mr Campbell’s conviction, reflecting improved understanding of vulnerabilities. Robust processes to support defendants are now in place and regularly reviewed, for example guidance for judges on relevant adjustments and the use of…
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The Horizon scandal was an unprecedented miscarriage of justice and the Government is working to notify all postmasters whose convictions have been quashed as quickly as possible. This work is carried out through a specially trained casework team who assess each case and verify that a…
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The work required to amalgamate data on family public law cases across the legacy system and the reform system Core Case Data before publication has now been completed. Most of the family court statistics have been reinstated. However, selected data series remain paused, pending further work to…
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Where a young adult lacks mental capacity, including due to a disability, the law requires parents or a guardian to have legal authority to make decisions on their behalf about financial assets or property. This includes in relation to accessing funds held in a Child Trust Fund or a Junior ISA. On…
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A project to deploy a new case management system to multiple jurisdictions including all four chambers of the Upper Tribunal, including the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) was completed in May 2022.The planned timetable for publishing datasets based on the UTIAC work types is as…
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In June and September 2024, the Ministry of Justice made the decision to cancel publication of the quarterly Official Accredited statistics on the criminal courts, following concerns about the quality of criminal court performance data.That initial work highlighted some necessary changes to court…
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The decision whether to publish a judgment is a judicial one.Currently, judgments of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal are not routinely published. However, members of the public and the media can apply to the tribunal for a copy of the judgment in a specific case.
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We are committed to delivering swift access to justice and reducing the outstanding caseload in the criminal courts. Whilst the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS have oversight of the timeliness with which cases move through the magistrates’ and Crown Courts, the decision on when and where a case…
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The management and listing of tribunal cases, and decisions on whether to reimburse the legal fees of a party in individual cases, are functions of the independent judiciary.Although orders for costs are not generally made in tribunal proceedings, tribunal procedure rules do provide for the…
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The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the statutory Miscarriages of Justice Application Service (MOJAS). Individuals who have had their convictions quashed in an out of time appeal are eligible to apply for compensation, including those who have subsequently been acquitted of all offences at a…
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As the Reform Programme concludes in March 2025 and new systems are implemented and embedded, they will - in most instances - ensure more detailed data is captured.Not only are reformed services making a difference directly to those who use them, they’re now giving us quality insights we need…
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The Miscarriages of Justice Application Service (MOJAS) has published management information which provides an overview of all applications received and decisions made for miscarriage of justice between April 2016 and March 2024. The statistics cover applications, outcomes, compensation awarded and…
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I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2024 to Question 4254 (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-09-04/4254).The Government will begin to release monthly management information on the progress of the Post Office Convictions casework…
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Legal aid is available for those facing homelessness, and disrepair claims (when there is a serious risk of illness or injury) subject to a financial means test. Tenants in this situation should contact the Civil Legal Aid telephone helpline for assistance. Legal aid is available for anyone facing…
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We are committed to reducing the outstanding caseloads across jurisdictions and bringing down waiting times to ensure cases move through our system without delay. Criminal courtsOver 90% of criminal cases are dealt with at the magistrates’ courts where the outstanding caseload remains well…
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The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal including the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.HMCTS continues to invest…
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HMCTS records the availability of courtroom in ‘sessions’. A ‘session’ represents the time that court/hearing room space is available, with up to two sessions available each day. Available and unavailable sessions are recorded for all jurisdictions.Telford Magistrates Court…
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We have interpreted waiting time to refer to the time between the date of sending a case to the Crown Court and the start of the substantive “main” Crown Court hearing.The average (median) waiting time at Shrewsbury Crown Court in 2023 was 42 days, compared to 40 days nationally.The…
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Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system. It underpins our plans to build a justice system that works for victims, supports access to justice, and ultimately upholds the rule of law. We are keen to understand the different ways the legal aid system can be improved to ensure each part works…
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The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 quashed all convictions meeting the conditions in the Act immediately upon commencement on 24 May 2024.Following the commencement of the Act, the Ministry of Justice has been working through data from a range of sources and spanning multiple…
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This information requested is not held centrally.In making decisions about who qualifies for legal aid, the Legal Aid Agency must apply the provisions of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and any regulations made under that Act. This legislation applies to any…
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Courts have wide ranging powers to impose cost orders on defendants and to recover some of the costs of investigating the offence and bringing the case to court. All such orders are at the discretion of the court, ensuring that they are just and reasonable, taking into account the means of the…
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We currently offer free transcripts of the judge’s sentencing remarks in some circumstances and are piloting extending this to victims of rape and serious sexual offences.I understand transcripts may help individuals obtain closure on traumatic events.Transcripts must be 100% accurate. Anyone…
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The Single Justice Procedure is an important part of ensuring cases can be heard swiftly within the magistrates' courts.We are aware of the criticism of aspects of the process and are looking at ways to improve the process to ensure the Single Justice Procedure continues to provide a fair and…
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Access to justice is integral to a fair society, including for our rural communities. That’s why we want to ensure effective and timely access to justice, including through our legal aid system and the broader network of legal support services, and by making best use of modern technology in…
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We do not publish a ‘waiting time’ measure for Magistrates’ courts. The Magistrates’ courts timeliness tool contains published estimates of timeliness from offence to case completion at the Magistrates’ courts. It is available down to Local Criminal Justice Board…
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The spend in 2023/24 for the Ministry of Justice’s Core Communications team 2023/24 was £8,903,437. This spend covers the staff and non-staff costs for internal communications, strategic communications, campaigns, marketing, external affairs, insight & evaluation, digital communications…
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We are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector and are keen to work closely with practitioners and their representative bodies to look at how best we can address this.We want to understand the different ways in which the justice system can be improved and…
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HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff, alongside system and process improvements, which has seen record levels of grants of probate issued during the last 6 months.Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, the open workable…
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Statistics on the timeliness of possession claims are published here: Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published covering the period to June 2024.The Government has announced its intention to legislate to abolish Section 21…
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Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases are decided by a single magistrate, with support of a legal adviser, in private rather than in a hearing in open court. This means that cases can be dealt with by courts anywhere in the country and are therefore not scheduled in the same way as conventional…
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The Ministry of Justice is not responsible for judicial training, which is the responsibility of the Judicial College.
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions for truancy offences, however, information held centrally does not include whether the prosecution was processed through the Single Justice Procedure, or if the offence related to a child with or without special educational needs.…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of custodial sentences issued at criminal courts in England and Wales. This includes breakdowns by sex, sentence length, offence group and police force area:- Magistrates’ courts: Magistrates' court data tool- Crown Court: Crown Court data…
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Juries are a vital part of our criminal justice system and undertake an important civic duty. The support provided to jurors includes measures to assist those who may suffer financial hardship. The Government will keep under review all support provided to jurors throughout their service.
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All claims made to the employment tribunals after 6 May 2014 (with a limited number of exceptions) will include an Acas Conciliation certificate.Publication of Employment Tribunal by jurisdiction ceased from April 2021 when Employment Tribunals moved to an interim database with limited management…
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Juries are a vital part of our criminal justice system and undertake an important civic duty. The Government will keep under review the support provided to jurors throughout their service.
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The Ministry of Justice holds data on convictions for breaching coronavirus regulations covering the period requested and this can be viewed in the Outcomes by Offence tool: December 2023.Specific offences of note include the following HO codes:16857 – Failure to comply with screening…
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As of 26 July 2024, we have issued 10 letters confirming to postmasters that their convictions have been quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024. The Ministry of Justice, Northern Irish Executive and Scottish Government are taking all reasonable steps and are working at pace…
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Access to audio recordings of proceedings in the Crown Court is at the discretion of the Court, subject to procedures and principles set out in the Criminal Procedure Rules and Criminal Practice Directions.
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Information on the numbers of adult men with no previous convictions who were taken into immediate custody from the Crown Courts and the Magistrates courts for sentences of below six months, and six months and over, are provided below. It is not possible to provide breakdowns by police force area…
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I can confirm that my department will consider and explore options for carrying out a review into these events. If the member wishes to write with more information I will provide him with a further update once this matter has been considered.
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Legal aid is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland. My Rt. Hon. friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has not yet had the opportunity to discuss legal aid with the devolved governments. Ministers look forward to working with their counterparts in the devolved…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants convicted for a wide range of offences against specific Home Office offence codes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023.However, it is not possible to separately identify offences specifically involving a…
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The Government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse.In private family proceedings, legal aid is available for child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce for domestic abuse victims, including those subjected to economic abuse, and where the child is at risk of…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of custodial sentences issued at criminal courts in England and Wales. This includes breakdowns by sex, sentence length, offence group and police force area, and therefore the information requested can be obtained from the following published…
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Although the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) has responded well to the significant increase in appeals it has experienced in recent years, we acknowledge that more needs to be done to reduce the time parents and young people have to wait to have their appeals determined. An additional 70 judges have…
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The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including sexual offences and various ages of defendants/offenders in the Outcomes by Offence tool: December 2023. This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using…
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Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.The table below sets out the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal against decisions made by Birmingham City Council for…
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