Points of Light award
Shailesh Vara, MP for North West Cambridgeshire, has welcomed the news that Cambridgeshire County Council’s bid to Government has secured funding of some £49,390 for a series of workshops and the development of a connection voucher scheme targeted at female entrepreneurs and women returning to work.
The Government Equalities Office has allocated a further £1.1 million to local authority programmes for the improvement of women’s digital literacy and this is in addition to the £75,000 awarded to Cambridgeshire in 2014, when the Women and Broadband Challenge Fund was established with £1.1 million of funding.
Broadband Delivery UK is working to provide superfast broadband to 90 per cent of the UK by 2016, and has £1 billion with which to do so. The combined funding, upwards of £124,000, allocated to Cambridgeshire by the Equalities Office will be devoted to helping women in the area to get as much as possible out of the strengthening of this infrastructure.
Mr Vara commented:
“I am delighted that the Council has succeeded in obtaining funding from Government in such a vital area. Lack of digital literacy should be no impediment to those who wish to return to work, and in the world of modern business and entrepreneurship we cannot afford to overlook the online element.
I would very much encourage those who are interested to contact the Council’s Connecting Cambridgeshire team for further details.”
Shailesh Vara and two other of the region’s MPs, Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) and Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) have jointly criticised Peterborough City Hospital’s handling of complaints and are seeking urgent answers. The three MPs are concerned about the delays in response times, serious errors in correspondence and a failure on the hospital’s part to take responsibility for their actions. Mr Barclay has written to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, to set out the detail behind the three local MPs concerns. High level discussions with Health Ministers are planned in the next few weeks.
Mr Barclay said: “I have supported constituents on a number of occasions in their dealings with the hospital and am deeply alarmed by their handling of complaints. In addition to their response times, their letters have included numerous inaccuracies with patients’ personal and medical information. This is unacceptable.
I have written to the Health Secretary asking him to look into my concerns and set out any assistance he can offer to alleviate the situation.”
Mr Jackson said: “Having seen a number of late and unhelpful responses from the City Hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), I am very concerned about the accountability and willingness of the City Hospital to genuinely learn from its mistakes.
The complaints department needs to ensure it sympathetically responds to complaints by patients in a timely fashion and realise it isn’t just a tick box exercise of dismissing rightly held concerns by patients who expect a professional level of care.”
Mr Vara added “I am concerned that the hospital’s complaints department is not up to the standard that the public have every right to expect which is to the detriment of patients and the hospital’s reputation.
Problems include a lack of urgency in dealing with complaints as well as a failure to provide regular updates on specific cases. This and more leads to a lack of confidence for patients and the senior management needs to urgently take action to address these concerns.”
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has today announced the appointment of Shailesh Vara MP as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Mr Vara has been Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice since 2013 and will continue in this role alongside his new appointment.
Mr Vara commented:
“I am delighted to have been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions. I am also very pleased that I will be able to continue my work in the Ministry of Justice. Both departments have important work to be done and I look forward to helping progress the government’s agenda.”
Court Estate: Gloucestershire
3. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con): What plans he has for the future of the court estate in Gloucestershire. [900487]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): The court estate in Gloucestershire, and across England and Wales, is a major asset of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. Any new proposals on the future of the courts will be subject to consultation.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: Will my hon. Friend, as part of the Courts and Tribunals Service reform programme, consider establishing one purpose-built building to house all court services?
Mr Vara: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his comments. I am very mindful of the state of affairs of Gloucestershire’s court estate. It is important that court buildings provide value for money and meet local demand. I will certainly ensure that his comments are taken on board.
Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con): I have discussed the issue of the courts in Gloucestershire—and in Gloucester in particular, where we have a Crown court that predates the battle of Waterloo—with the Minister and his predecessors for several years. As my neighbour and colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), has said, our courts are in a dire position. Will he confirm today that the Department will look very closely at the state of the courts and take advantage of the opportunity to use the site we have reserved free of charge in Blackfriars?
Mr Vara: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his re-election. I know the issue of the court structure was a key element in the general election. It is good to see that, post-election, he continues to battle for that cause. We have met and corresponded on this issue, so he will be aware that, as we speak, officials are engaged in considering the best way forward.
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Topical Questions
Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab): The Government recently announced that they were going ahead with a further 8.75% fee cut to criminal legal aid, the second in a year. The existing system, especially the online Crown Commercial Service system, is already wholly inadequate. What justification is there for further cuts, other than to further reduce access to justice for those most in need?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): May I first welcome the hon. Lady to the House?
It is important that we recognise that we have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world, and that it needs to be sustainable. It has to be fair to the people who need legally aided advice, fair to the providers and fair to the taxpayer, who ultimately pays for it. As far as the latest 8.75% cut is concerned, we have made sure that there will be proper access for all those who need legal advice.
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Shailesh Vara, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, has prevailed in his efforts to get Cambridgeshire County Council to extend its public consultation for an Anaerobic Digestion Plant planned for construction near Stanground, Peterborough.
As part of the proposed site falls within Peterborough, it has also been necessary for a planning application to be made to Peterborough City Council as it is a separate local planning authority. Cambridgeshire County Council now plans to align its consultation period with Peterborough’s and comments can now be submitted to both Councils until 30th June 2015.
Mr Vara said: -
“I am very pleased that the concerns I and Cllr Chris Harper raised on behalf of local residents regarding the proposed anaerobic digestion plant have been properly addressed by Cambridgeshire County Council. I would strongly encourage local residents to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by this extension and ensure that they make their views known on this planning application.”
Cllr Chris Harper commented: -
“I very much welcome Mr Vara’s continued support and Cambridgeshire County Council’s decision to allow more time for residents to comment on this application. A campaign committee has been set up and together we would like to remind residents that it is vitally important to also submit their comments to Peterborough City Council’s planning department for consideration.”
Shailesh Vara, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, is urging Cambridgeshire County Council to extend the public consultation for an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant which has been proposed close to Stanground, Peterborough.
Mr Vara, along with Stanground East Councillor, Chris Harper, is opposing the proposal which could see the AD plant situated only 250 metres away from homes and in close proximity to both a primary school and nursery. Moreover, Mr Vara and Cllr Harper feel that the additional pressure which would be placed on Toll Farm Road by heavy vehicle movements to and from the plant would exacerbate an already congested junction.
The consultation for the Application, proposed by Envitec Biogas Ventures Ltd, is due to expire today and it is felt that the advertising for the application, via flyers on lamp posts, has been too limited bearing in mind the scale of the proposal. Mr Vara and Cllr Harper are therefore seeking for the consultation to be extended.
Mr Vara said:
“This is a major planning application and it is very important that local residents have the opportunity to make their views known. The siting of this proposal is clearly inappropriate and given the technical nature of the application, it is vital that proper time is made available so that local residents can make their views known. I very much hope that the Council will review this matter and provide local people with more time to express their concerns.”
Cllr Chris Harper commented: -
“We as local residents are all very worried about this planning application on our doorsteps. Having researched Anaerobic Digestion plants, problems include odour, noise, bio-aerosol emissions and increased traffic flows. This major site would be only 250 metres from homes in Stanground East and would also be close to a primary school and children’s nursery. I would encourage as many local residents as possible to have their say on this very important application.”
Shailesh Vara MP has been reappointed to the Justice Ministry as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. Mr Vara’s responsibilities will include Courts and Tribunals, Legal Aid, Administrative Justice and Legal Services.
Following his appointment Mr Vara said;
“I am delighted to be reappointed as a Justice Minister. I am particularly looking forward to continuing with my previous responsibilities where there is still much work to be done.”
Legal Aid
3. Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con): When he next plans to meet representatives from (a) the Law Society and (b) the Bar Council to discuss legal aid. [908085]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): Throughout the development of the “Transforming Legal Aid” package of reform, my officials and I regularly met the Law Society, the Bar Council and other members of the legal profession. Officials from the Department and the Legal Aid Agency continue to be in regular contact with the representative bodies as we implement the reforms.
Mr Bellingham: I thank the Minister for that reply. Is he aware that I represent a number of constituents involved with family law cases, including one young mother who is contesting adoption proceedings? She received legal aid for the substantive hearing, but she is now appealing and, unfortunately, cannot get legal aid. Has he made any assessment of the impact of the cost in respect of litigants in person within the family division? Without increasing the overall legal aid budget, will he consider some reallocation of resources within it to solve this particular problem?
Mr Vara: I thank my hon. Friend for his question and say to him that we do have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world and we have made sure that we provide legal aid assistance for those who need it.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab): In a previous Question Time, I raised the problem of victims of domestic abuse apparently being deterred from going to law because of the cuts in legal aid. Has the Minister discussed the matter with representatives of the law authorities? Does he have any statistics to confirm these reports?
Mr Vara: We have paid particular attention to those who have been victims of domestic violence and we are very keen that, wherever possible, we will give legal aid to make sure that people get out of the abusive relationships in which they are caught.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab): Following on from that, on how many occasions have victims of domestic violence had their legal aid funding stopped because of the rule changes for evidence now being more than two years old? The Minister must have that information to hand.
Mr Vara: What I will tell the hon. Gentleman is that this issue has been the subject of a huge amount of misunderstanding among the wider public, not least because of the misinformation imparted by people such as himself. On two occasions we have increased the criteria on the required evidence, once during the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and subsequently when we found that more evidence was required.
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Legal Aid Budget
4. David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con): What progress he has made on reducing the legal aid budget [908086]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): In 2009-10, as this Government took office, £2.2 billion was spent on legal aid. Following our two major reform programmes, spend has fallen to £1.7 billion in 2013-14 and is expected to fall to about £1.5 billion once the reforms have fully worked through the system.
David Mowat: I thank the Minister for that answer. A month ago in the High Court, Lord Justice Laws described the Government’s proposal to have two-tier contracting as reasonable, “proportionate” and a “proper way” to proceed. The case has now gone to the Court of Appeal and a decision is expected imminently. Can the Minister confirm that, subject to that decision, he will be proceeding in this Parliament with a tendering process and not be constrained by what appears to be legal time wasting?
Mr Vara: Having successfully defended a challenge in the High Court, we robustly defended our position in the Court of Appeal and are awaiting judgment. If the appeal is dismissed, it is our intention to continue the tender that is currently subject to an injunction as soon as possible.
Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab): Access to justice is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. Given the reductions in legal aid, can the Minister say whether there has been a rise or a fall in the number of litigants in person?
Mr Vara: I believe there has been a rise in litigants in person, but the Government have also made a huge amount of provision to cater for that. I also say to the hon. Lady and Opposition Front Benchers, who have never said that they are going to reverse the cuts that we have made, that we need a legal aid system that is sustainable, for the people who need it, for the legal providers and for the taxpayers who pay for it.
Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD): Has the Minister noted the Justice Committee’s conclusion that although the Government had achieved the cost reduction, there was some transfer of cost to other budgets and far too little availability of the exceptional cases fund, and that mediation, far from increasing, had actually dropped?
Mr Vara: May I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question? As far as exceptional funding is concerned, the giveaway is in the title. The fund is meant to be exceptional, but some people have seen it as a discretionary fund. Not surprisingly, therefore, the numbers involved in it have been few.
I understand that the right hon. Gentleman is retiring at the end of this Parliament. Let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with him. I may not always have agreed with him, but working with him has always been a pleasure, and I wish him well for the future.
Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): Perhaps the Minister should listen to the Chair of the Justice Committee and read his report that found that the Government had failed in three of their four objectives for legal aid: they have not discouraged unnecessary litigation; they have not targeted legal aid to those who need it the most; and they have not delivered better value for money for the taxpayer. That is what the report says. Does the Minister agree that that abject failure is a fitting epitaph for the least competent Lord Chancellor since the Reformation?
Mr Vara: It is always helpful if shadow Ministers do their homework. The proposals to which the hon. Gentleman refers were achieved by the previous Lord Chancellor. As far as his comment on the Justice Committee’s report is concerned, I do not hear him or his boss saying that they will be reversing any of the cuts that we have made. If they want to do that, the shadow Chancellor will have plenty of opportunity so to do in due course.
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Claims-handling Companies
5. John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's oversight of claims-handling companies. [908087]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): Tackling bad practices by claims management companies is a priority for the Department’s claims management regulator. Recent measures taken to strengthen the effectiveness regulation include tougher rules to crack down on malpractice and a new power to impose financial penalties on CMCs that break the rules. Since regulation began in 2007, the licences of more than 1,200 CMCs have been removed. Between April and December 2014, we stepped up enforcement action, with 338 CMCs being warned for poor conduct or having their licences removed.
John Mann: The whole country is sick of these companies ringing up day and night leaving answerphone messages and harassing pensioners. When it comes to PPI mis-selling, they are taking half the money that is due to decent people purely for writing a letter to a bank asking it to investigate the matter. We need to expose the sham of these companies more effectively, because, across the country, people are losing out and are getting increasingly sick of their behaviour.
Mr Vara: I agree that many people are very upset with the behaviour of those companies. In fact, millions of people are upset with what is happening. This is something that requires joined-up activity. The claims management regulator is working closely with the primary enforcement agencies at the Information Commissioner’s office and at Ofcom to investigate practices and take firm enforcement action against rogue companies. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that much work on nuisance calls has already been done and that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is leading on reforms in this area. Last year, for example, the Department published a joint action plan, involving all the relevant regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s office, Ofcom and the claims management regulator.
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Access to Justice
9. Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab): What steps he plans to take to ensure access to justice regardless of ability to pay. [908092]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): The Government’s reform programme to promote access to justice aims to deliver a justice system that is more accessible to the public. It aims to support people in resolving their disputes through simpler, more informal remedies, and to limit the scope for inappropriate litigation and the involvement of lawyers in issues which do not need legal input.
Julie Hilling: Let me give the Minister one more chance to answer a question on last week’s Justice Committee report on the civil legal aid cuts, which revealed that the Government have failed to achieve all three of their targets. Can the Minister confirm that there has been an underspend in the legal aid budget, and that exceptional case funding has failed to achieve the aim of protecting access to justice for the most vulnerable?
Mr Vara: For the benefit of the hon. Lady, let me say once again that if it were not for the Government whom she supported causing the mess that they did, we would not have been obliged to make the cuts we have had to make. Despite making them, we still have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world.
Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con): Can the Minister tell the House how our legal aid budget compares internationally?
Mr Vara: As I said, we compare very favourably internationally. We have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world, and that is after the cuts have come through.
Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): It is a fact that the Government’s cuts to legal aid have denied thousands access to legal advice. The Government’s changes to tribunal and court fees are having an additional impact on women and other vulnerable groups. The number of victims of domestic violence receiving legal aid has fallen significantly, and the number of sex discrimination claims is down by 90%. Unless the Government genuinely believe that this is an indication of significant improvements to society—that it indicates less domestic violence and less sex discrimination—women are being denied access to justice. Will the Government agree to an urgent review of the impact of the changes they have made on women and other vulnerable groups?
Mr Vara: In that very long contribution from the right hon. Gentleman, it is regrettable that not once did he say that if he were Lord Chancellor, he would reverse the cuts we have made. That sums up where the Opposition are: they are happy to object, they are happy to write articles—[Interruption.] Yes, the right hon. Gentleman points to the public. I point to the public as well, and I say that nowhere did the right hon. Gentleman say that Labour would reverse the cuts we have made. [Interruption.]
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Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (Section 28 Pilots)
12. Ann Coffey (Stockport) (Lab): What recent assessment he has made of the outcome of the pilots of section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. [908097]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): Recorded pre-trial cross-examination is designed to help vulnerable witnesses to give their best possible evidence and to spare them the trauma of being cross-examined in front of a jury and the public. The hon. Lady will know that we have been piloting the scheme in Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston upon Thames Crown courts, and that the pilots ended in October 2014. Interim findings from the evaluation of the pilots are awaited, and an announcement of the plans for any future roll-out of the scheme will be made in due course.
Ann Coffey: I recently visited the recorder of Liverpool, Judge Goldstone, who said that the section 28 pilot in Liverpool had resulted in a sea change in culture in court: cross-examinations without the aggressive barracking and repetitive questions of defence lawyers, and impressive outcomes in the reduction of stress and anxiety in children. Does the Minister agree that if the pilot was rolled out to every court, it would hugely increase the confidence of child witnesses in the criminal justice system?
Mr Vara: As I have said, we are awaiting the results of the pilots. Once we have considered them, we will take the proper action and, if necessary, roll them out further.
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Domestic Violence (Legal Aid)
19. Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab): How many women who have been victims of domestic violence applied for legal aid in proceedings relating to their children in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [908104]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): From July to September 2014, there were 3,097 applications for legal aid in relation to private law proceedings under the Children Act 1989. Due to the way in which data are collected, that figure includes applications where there was evidence of child abuse and applications that were made by men. I will write to the right hon. Lady to provide a breakdown of applications by gender.
Fiona Mactaggart: I asked for the figures because the gateway into legal aid for victims of domestic violence requires them to provide evidence that they have been victims of domestic violence in the last two years. We know that abusers use child custody and access arrangements to further abuse their victims. What is the Minister doing about that?
Mr Vara: What the right hon. Lady does not seem to accept is that the Minister is listening. He has increased the criteria that are required. Thousands of people have successfully applied for legal aid in domestic violence cases and many more will doubtless be successful.
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Topical Questions
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab): People with asbestos-related diseases not only have to cope with their illness, but often have a difficult court battle to get compensation. With the proposed rise in court fees, which are totally disproportionate—for example, going from £1,300 to £10,000—many claimants will be deterred. Will the Minister look again at the scale of those rises to see if they can be reduced to a more reasonable level?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara): Some 90% of people will not be affected by the enhanced fees, and we have waivers for people who do not qualify on financial grounds. The fees will apply only to a relatively small number of people, and even for them we have the waivers.
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Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab): In 2010, the Government put on hold plans to rebuild Sunderland’s court complex, and answers to recent parliamentary questions reveal what we have always feared—that no decision was ever likely to be taken in this Parliament. What would the Minister say to people across Sunderland to explain his Government’s complete failure to make any progress in the last five years?
Mr Vara: I would say to the people of Sunderland: look at the record of the Labour party in government—it did absolutely nothing. We have put in place a five-year reform programme that will bring our courts into the 21st century. Her Government did not do that, but we have, and in five years, we will have the best courts in the world.
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T10. [908116] Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con): My plans for the regeneration of the city of Gloucester include a new car park and entrance to Gloucester station, but they depend on a land sale agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the city council and the land’s onward leasing to First Great Western. Ministers have been sympathetic to urban regeneration. Will my hon. Friend confirm whether the MOJ has agreed an independent local valuation so that rapid progress can be made on the sale?
Mr Vara: I commend my hon. Friend for his diligence in pursuing this matter. He has met me, and I have corresponded with him, and he will be aware that my officials and the council’s officials are in conversation. Like him, I look forward to seeing the way forward.
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