Contributions
1,528 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)There are pluses and minuses to that approach. To repeat the point I made earlier, if they never received the notice in the first place, the proceedings would simply begin, as…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)The amendments relate to vulnerable defendants using the provisions in clause 6 that allow adults to indicate a plea online. To be clear, I share the concern of the hon. Member…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)One reason that I am more than happy to meet is that we can go through more detail. There are a range of issues here that I would need to discuss with the hon. Gentleman. On the…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)The hon. Gentleman is engaging—he is an engaging fellow and I am engaging with him. I am more than happy to do that. I understand his request for a meeting. I would be more than…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)I will give a short exposition, because it is important to clarify the point that I emphasised in my last intervention. Section 12 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 is a…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)Just for clarity—this is what I explained to the Chair of the Justice Committee—I can quite understand that, at face value, it looks from the Bill as if this is uniquely being set…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts Bill (Sixth sitting)I should point out for the record, as I spoke to him privately, that I did discuss that intervention from the Chair of the Justice Committee, and explained to him what I am about…09 Nov 2021HANSARDTopical QuestionsI absolutely recognise the trauma endured by victims and survivors and their need for answers. The Government continue to be clear that it is for local authorities in individual…09 Nov 2021HANSARDTopical QuestionsWithout wishing to sound like one of the famous online shopping alerts that we receive by email, I confirm that it has been dispatched and that the hon. and learned Lady will…09 Nov 2021HANSARDTopical QuestionsI pay tribute to the hon. Lady in her role as chair of the APPG. It is precisely because I see the importance of legal aid that I went to the meeting at which she launched the…09 Nov 2021HANSARDTopical QuestionsI am grateful to my hon. Friend; these are sensitive matters. We remain clear that allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation must be thoroughly and properly investigated…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts BillThe hon. Lady knows that that is a wholly erroneous interpretation of the presumption clause, which is there simply to ensure that we expedite the accumulation of jurisprudence.09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts BillWe have just debated this issue at great length in the Bill Committee and I understand that the hon. Lady feels strongly about it but, as we have explained, in those cases there…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts BillI am pleased to confirm to the House that we are currently drafting the measures that will ensure that we remove the means test on exceptional case funding for such matters.…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts BillWe have been debating these matters at length. The Bill is a very good one. It strengthens judicial review in relation to quashing orders with the new remedies. Far from what the…09 Nov 2021HANSARDJudicial Review and Courts BillThe Bill had its Second Reading in this House on 26 October. As the hon. Lady knows, it is now in Committee—she is part of that Committee. The Bill fixes inefficient processes…09 Nov 2021HANSARDCrown Court BacklogIt is quite extraordinary: 43 minutes ago in Bill Committee, the Labour party voted to keep clogging up our courts with immigration and asylum cases with almost no chance of…09 Nov 2021HANSARDCrown Court BacklogOn the contrary, I can confirm that what my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor actually said was that cases would start to stabilise. They are stabilising now, at around a…09 Nov 2021HANSARDCrown Court BacklogMy right hon. Friend makes a good point and has significant experience as a lawyer himself. I can confirm that there is extra resource for the CPS in the spending review, and the…09 Nov 2021HANSARDCrown Court BacklogMy hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I also had the pleasure of visiting Manchester Crown court and saw the brand-new super court, put in place at a cost of £2.5 million to…09 Nov 2021