argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Victims Law — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the shadow Minister for her question. Our ongoing review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme has one simple aim: to make sure that it better supports victims and reflects their needs in the 21st century. Indeed, last year we awarded compensation of more than £154 million, and recently, we have announced that we are abolishing the "same-roof" rule so that many more victims can make claims. In respect of the specific issue to which she refers, which I believe was covered in The Guardian newspaper recently, I would sound a slight note of caution about the figures for 2010-11 being a benchmark as I understand there is a possibility that they were inflated that year due to a £30 million pay-out specifically for compensation for asbestos-related conditions. None the less, I welcome her engagement with the review that we will be undertaking this summer.
Imprisonment for Public Protection — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to providing IPP prisoners with opportunities to progress to the point at which they are safe to release. Our primary responsibility is public protection. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation service and the Parole Board are delivering a joint action plan to improve IPP prisoners’ sentence progression. In 2017-18, three quarters of those considered by the Parole Board were either recommended for release or a move to open conditions. This shows that our approach is working.
Imprisonment for Public Protection — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this point. I am happy to write to him on the individual case, which has a number of complexities, as I am sure he is aware. I have mentioned the joint action plan to improve IPP prisoners’ sentence progression. These measures include case reviews led by psychologists for those prisoners not making the expected progress, an increased number of places on specialist progression regimes, and greatly improved access to rehabilitative programmes. I continue to be ambitious to ensure that we do everything we can in this area, remembering that public protection must remain our priority.
Imprisonment for Public Protection — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Mary Boswell Prentis (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Secretary of State for what he has said about his ambitions for IPP prisoners. Does the joint action plan have an end date—that is, is there a date beyond which we should not detain people under these sorts of sentences?
Imprisonment for Public Protection — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): In the end, it comes down to the decisions made by the Parole Board, which has to make its decisions based on public protection. In some cases— regrettable though it may be—if someone is not safe to be released, the Parole Board must make that decision. We need to ensure that we do everything we can to progress these cases as best we can. As I have said, we have made progress in recent years.
Imprisonment for Public Protection — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): Obviously I want to reduce the numbers, and one of the reasons that we have provided additional support to the Parole Board is to enable it to do so. In the end, it comes down to individual decisions in respect of particular individuals, and some cases present a number of challenging factors. Decisions have to strike the right balance between progressing people as we should and ensuring that we protect the public.
Access to Criminal Justice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): It is vital that our criminal justice system remains fair and accessible, and we are taking a number of steps to ensure justice within it. Legal aid is a very important part of that process, and last year we spent almost £900 million on criminal legal aid alone. However, our court system also needs to be modern and up to date, so we are spending £1 billion on technology to bring our court system up to date for the 21st century.
Access to Criminal Justice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point, because those who work within the criminal justice system play a vital part in upholding justice. That is why, over the course of last year, we have consulted the professions and put a further £23 million into the advocates’ graduated fee scheme. It is also why we have recently announced that we will be doing a holistic review of criminal legal aid with regard to the professions, looking overall at a whole range of issues across the Bar and across the duty solicitor schemes. That review has already started.
Access to Criminal Justice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Doing a review and putting in £23 million are specific steps to ensure that we get better justice. I am very grateful to the Law Society, which the hon. Lady and the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) mentioned, because it is actively engaged in our review, as are the Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association.
Access to Criminal Justice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very pleased that the hon. Lady has highlighted that we have already committed to doing a review of the threshold for legal aid across the board, not just in relation to criminal law but civil law as well. It is very important that we get that review right. Legal aid has not been uprated for a number of years. We have committed to doing that, but not only that—we have already started the review.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the whole House will join me in expressing our deep horror at the recent attack against a prison officer in Nottingham prison. It is completely horrifying to see this happen. It must not happen again. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our prison officers for the work they do in very difficult circumstances keeping us safe. There are three main things we can do to stop this kind of thing happening again. We need to improve perimeter security, which means really searching people for weapons and drugs at the gate; we need to make sure that the conditions in the prison are decent and work; and, above all, we need to provide the training and support for prison officers to have the right kind of relationships with prisoners whereby things like this do not occur again.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend the Minister vowed that if prison violence did not decrease, he would resign. I, for one, think that we have seen too many members of the Government resign. Could he give us an update on his own ambitions to stay in post?
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): As some people in the House will be aware, I promised to reduce violence in 10 key challenge prisons over a 12-month period. At the moment, the figures are looking reasonably positive. In other words, it looks as though, in the majority of these prisons, violence is coming down so hon. Members may be in the unfortunate position of still having me at this Dispatch Box in a few months’ time.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely agree that these are extraordinary public servants. This is a horrifying and completely unacceptable act. We need to punish the person who did it, and we need to punish them properly. At the moment, the charge that is being brought forward carries the maximum life sentence, as it should, but there is more that we can do. That includes body-worn cameras, the rolling out of PAVA spray and ensuring we have enough officers on the landings, which is why I am pleased that we now have the highest number of prison officers at any date since 2012.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Andrew Edmund Armstrong Selous (Conservative, Centre-right): Would there not be less violence in our prisons if there was a relentless focus from the first day in prison on getting prisoners work on release? We could do that by combining training in prison with employer and college support on release.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): This is not an either/or. We have to be confident and practical about doing two things at the same time. Controlling prisons—these include some quite dangerous individuals—involves serious measures on searching people for drugs and weapons, but it also involves treating people like humans and turning their lives around, because that is the way we protect the public from the misery of crime through reoffending when these individuals are released from prison.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): A lot of lessons have been learned since that initial event, but the right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right; there was a very disturbing event two weeks ago. The basic challenge, as he will be aware, is getting the balance right between ensuring that people are motivated and focused on the regime and that there are high expectations around prisoners and prison officers. To some extent, it is like running a very difficult school, particularly when we are dealing with 16 to 18-year-olds. It is a mixture of being strict on the one hand and loving on the other that is the key to a good prison.
Violence in Prisons — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): I respectfully disagree with Sir Malcolm on this issue. It was absolutely right to take Birmingham back in hand, because that prison was not performing properly. On the other hand, the same company is running some very good prisons in Oakwood, Altcourse and Parc. It is doing good things on family work and on technology. Private sector prisons are often among the safer local prisons in terms of assaults per 1,000. We are not ideological on this. The private sector can certainly play a role.
Welfare Benefits: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Social Welfare
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): In the most recent Legal Aid Agency civil tender, the number of offices providing legal aid services on welfare benefits increased by 188%. In February, we set out our legal support action plan, which focused on the importance of early legal support. We will be establishing a number of pilots in a range of areas of law to see how best we can support those in need. It is critical that welfare decisions are made right the first time, and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to help ensure that.
Welfare Benefits: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Legal aid is available in welfare cases on points of law to the upper tribunal and the higher courts. A wide variety of considerable support is also available from some fantastic third sector organisations. I visited a number of them recently, and they are doing an excellent job. As I mentioned, we are also looking in our legal aid action plan at how we can provide people with support early on in a variety of areas, which may include this area.
Welfare Benefits: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): This party and this Government would like to support all people who need support, but we need to provide it in a way that is efficient, provides a good service and uses taxpayers’ money well. That is why we set out in our legal aid support strategy a variety of pilots that we will hold to help people in a variety of areas of law—housing, immigration—and all these can be bid for. We are putting forward £5 million for people to develop and put in place technology provision, face-to-face support and other support for legal aid.
Welfare Benefits: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): While the professions and those who provide support are incredibly important—that is why, as I mentioned earlier, we have put £23 million more into criminal legal aid professionals—we would like to focus on helping those who need that support. That is why we are focusing on our £5 million innovation fund to find out what sort of support people need and how best to provide that support. We recommend and hope to support bids from legal advice centres as well as from professionals.
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): Significant reform has been undertaken since 2010, and we remain committed to driving further improvements. While fewer young people are committing crimes for the first time, with an 86% reduction in the number of young people entering the youth justice system for the first time, we still have more to do to break the cycle of reoffending. Working with youth offending teams in partnership is central to prevention, but for those who end up in custody, we believe our reforms to move to a secure school model will play a key role in reducing further offending.
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Nigel Paul Huddleston (Conservative, Centre-right): The recent increase in knife crime has highlighted the very young age at which some of our most vulnerable young people get involved in crime. What steps is the Department taking to divert young people away from offending and reoffending?
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): We work very closely with youth offending teams and youth offending services run by local authorities to help with that prevention. I pay tribute particularly to the team in Lewisham, whom I was lucky enough to visit the other day. We also work closely with the Department for Education on exclusions and the role they can play in causing offending behaviour.
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her work following the incidents of violence that she has mentioned. Once again, I thank the Prison Officers Association for its constructive engagement, and our thoughts are with the welfare of the injured staff. She is absolutely right to highlight the importance of sport as one of the positive ways we can divert young people away from violence and offending behaviour.
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Education
Anne Margaret Main (Conservative, Centre-right): Too many young people who get involved in crime have been failed by the education system or have special educational needs, which often go undiagnosed or are not coped with well by schools. What more can be done to ensure that young people do not fall foul of the system and end up with very few qualifications and very little hope for the future?
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Education
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Central to tackling the problem is partnership working, not only with youth offending teams but with colleagues in the educational sphere. We are fully engaged with Edward Timpson’s review of exclusions, and we are working very closely with the Department for Education on matters such as speech and language therapy, learning disabilities and other factors that can play a part.
Youth Justice System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Edward John Comport Argar (Conservative, Centre-right): We have worked extremely hard across the Government, and with local authorities and other state and charity agencies, to drive down the level of offending. We have seen an 86% reduction in the number of young people coming into the criminal justice system for the first time, but there is more to do to break the cycle of reoffending for those who are already in the system, and that is what we are focused on.
Housing Cases: Legal Advice — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): There is already funding available, as I have mentioned. In 2017-18, we also spent £3.6 million on the housing possession court duty scheme—in other words, on-the-day advice. The Government want to ensure that people are helped early on, but also that we provide advice in the best way possible. That is why instead of just ploughing taxpayers’ money back into traditional legal aid, we want to evaluate many different forms of provision of early legal support and see which is the best, and then we will take a decision on what support we want to give.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): The UK and the EU have agreed the terms of an implementation period. If Parliament is able to support a deal, common rules will remain in place during that period. That will provide certainty to businesses and citizens. The UK and EU have also committed to explore a new agreement on family judicial co-operation and other related matters; ambitious arrangements for services and investment, including legal services; and a future security partnership. My Department continues to work to ensure we are in the best position to negotiate our priorities.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): We are very clear that the best way forward is to reach a deal. That is what the Government are endeavouring to achieve and support from across the House would be quite helpful in delivering that.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): The Solicitor General’s evidence to the Justice Committee was indeed crystal clear. Does my right hon. Friend also agree that it is critical for civil justice co-operation that there should be a deal? None of the ambitious objectives for future collaboration would work if there is no deal. For example, mutual recognition and enforceability of judgments in civil and family law cases would fall away immediately in the event of no deal.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to highlight these issues. We have made progress in our negotiations, particularly in the context of family law. It is to the advantage of citizens in the UK and the EU that a deal is reached, which will enable us to enforce judgments in this area. Our ambitions are to go further and, in terms of the future framework, to make further progress on civil judicial co-operation.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Member is correct to say that on leaving the European Union we will not have access to the European arrest warrant. We would wish to be able to do so, but there are difficulties. For example, Germany has a constitutional bar in this area. The Home Office continues to work with EU member states to try to find a way in which we can have as effective extradition and arrest warrant arrangements as possible.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not going to comment specifically on those discussions. What I would say in the context of no-deal preparations is that, as I understand it, the Scottish Government have not allocated any of the money given to them for no-deal preparation on justice matters. Certainly, when it comes to the United Kingdom, we are doing everything we can to prepare for every eventuality.
Leaving the EU: Legal System — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: International Affairs
David Michael Gauke (Conservative, Centre-right): What I say to the hon. and learned Lady is that we want to work in a pragmatic way with the European Union, so that as we leave the EU, we continue to co-operate wherever we can to our mutual benefit. That does require us to reach a deal.
Access to Justice: Criminal Case Delays — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Unnecessary delays can always cause distress for all parties. Some cases are moving more quickly through the criminal courts, but due to the complexity of cases, impacts on the time that they take to reach courts are being realised. The Crown Prosecution Service and the police are driving change across the system through the national disclosure improvement plan, and we are working to reduce delays and improve the way cases are progressed through the system through better case management and transforming summary justice.
Access to Justice: Criminal Case Delays — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Government Operations
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, the Attorney General has done a review in relation to disclosure more broadly. I am very happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss any ideas that she would like to put forward on those matters.
Access to Justice: Criminal Case Delays — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): We are in the process of a £1 billion court programme—one of the most ambitious across the world in relation to how we transform our justice system—and it is appropriate that we get the best and right advice to manage that process. Sometimes we find that it is cheaper to instruct experts than it is to develop that expertise internally, so we use consultants where appropriate.
Enforcement Agents: Regulation — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): There is no excuse for aggressive tactics by bailiffs. I know that the hon. Lady has worked very hard to highlight the issues that have occurred in her constituency, and I was very grateful for her contribution to a recent Westminster Hall debate. She will know that we have undertaken a call for evidence, which addresses the regulation of the industry. Recently, we were very pleased to see the report of the Justice Committee, and we will respond both to the call for evidence and the Justice Committee’s report in the summer.
Enforcement Agents: Regulation — House of Commons, 2019-04-23
Topic: Law and Crime
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady will know, regulation is one of the questions that we are asking in the call for evidence. We will look at the evidence—we have had quite a lot of evidence submitted—and we will be responding to that point about regulation. The Justice Committee made a number of interesting recommendations and put forward some proposals, and we will of course look at those in due course as well.