Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: We have now opened Nightingale courts at 21 locations bringing the total number of temporary court rooms set up nationwide to 40. These additional temporary courtrooms have allowed us to increase capacity, particularly for jury trials, in locations where there is an operational requirement and hold additional hearings within a safe environment. A list of Nightingale parent courts and the...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: We have taken quick and decisive action, backed by Public Health England and Wales, to limit the spread of the virus across all prison establishments, including the women’s estate. This has included restricting regimes, minimising inter-prison transfers and compartmentalising prisons into different units to isolate the sick, shield the vulnerable and quarantine new arrivals. A comprehensive...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Dr Byrom’s report makes a number of important recommendations which HMCTS is in the process of implementing. Because HMCTS’s response to the recommendations is integrated into the wider work on reviewing data use and management, spending is included in departmental and programme budgets. As such, it is not possible to disaggregate work on the recommendations from other work on data. In...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Nightingale courts provide much needed additional capacity for face-to-face hearings in a Covid-safe environment and contribute greatly for our response to the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of our recovery plans, we are working towards establishing a total of 60 additional court rooms through Nightingale courts by the end of March 2021. When considering Nightingale courts, we assess where the...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: The table below provides the status of all courts closed since 2015, shown by the jurisdictions as requested. Name Jurisdiction Closed Date of Closure Disposal Status 2015 Chesterfield County Court County 31/10/2015 Disposed Harrogate County Court County/Family 30/09/2015 Disposed Hereford County Court County/Family 31/12/2015 Disposed 2016 Accrington County...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, my noble friend Lady Bertin has, as she has explained, tabled an amendment which seeks to ensure that UK citizens who commit marital rape in countries where such behaviour is not criminal may be prosecuted in the UK. Such countries are thankfully in the minority. We of course want to prevent any exploitation of more lax laws on marital rape elsewhere. I hope that the Committee will...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, seeks to strike out—alone among the clauses in the Bill—Clause 69. I will endeavour to persuade him, and the rest of the Committee, that this clause, like others, can play an important part in protecting victims of domestic abuse. Right at the start, however, I join the noble Lord, Lord Marks, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee,...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, it might be most efficient for me to do just that. I will add it to the list of questions and respond in writing. Clause 69 agreed.
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, I hope I can be relatively brief in my reply—not because the point is not important, nor indeed out of a lack of respect for any of the contributions we have just heard, but because there is a single and critical point, fundamental to the administration of justice, which lies at the heart of this debate. As the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, explained, this probing amendment is...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, for raising this matter—I am tempted to say “again”, but of course I should really say “again and again”. The list of engagements which he set out was impressive, and I fear I may not be able to provide satisfaction to the noble Lord where so many of my illustrious forebears have already failed. If I can put it...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, I will start with the point made by my noble friend Lady Bertin. It is of course late; I am conscious of that. But I have to say that it is worth staying up late to hear the debate we have just had, with the quality of the contributions to which we have all just listened. Therefore, I will take a little time—I hope not too long—to respond to the debate, because this is obviously...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Following the 1 December 2020 announcement, a cross government working group has been established to look at the issues raised in relation to access to Child Trust Funds. The Group has representation from Her Majesty’s Treasury, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice and convened on 8 January and 29 January. Engagement with...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: The Government places a high degree of importance upon protecting and supporting those who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. For that reason, anyone who wishes to manage the finances of a person who lacks the mental capacity to do so for themselves must have the legal authority to do so. Legal authority for someone who lacks mental capacity can only be obtained via an...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Prior to the March lockdown there were over 450 Crown Court rooms available for use. Jury trials were paused on 23rd March. Since then we have undertaken reconfiguration of our estate to comply with social distancing measures. The availability of rooms fluctuates day by day, but as of the end of December 2020 we had over 290 Crown Court rooms available for Jury trials across the existing...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Prison chapels and multi-faith spaces have remained open for private prayer and reflection in a COVID-19 secure manner during the pandemic. The spaces have also been used to help support family contact in cases of family illness and bereavement. Chaplains of all faiths play a central role in supporting prisoners during the pandemic. Although group worship has been temporarily suspended to...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: All adult prisons are currently in a stage four regime, as outlined in the National Framework, to reduce contact between people and therefore reduce the chance of transmission of COVID-19. The regime restrictions we have implemented have brought new and different challenges across the prison estate and it is not currently practicable to provide as much access to open spaces as would...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, in responding to the amendment and the various points put to me, I will bear in mind and seek to avoid falling into the trap of being one of those “pesky lawyers” that, as the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, reminded us, still exist. In that regard, let me turn to the substance of the amendments, particularly Amendment 19 put down by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. This...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, I am grateful for the question put to me by my noble friend. As I said, that is precisely what the Government seek to do: to provide an additional tool for the management of these offenders. The point he made regarding deradicalisation is, if I may say so, very perceptive. It is a difficult part of the overall structure we are putting in place in the Bill, as we have in other...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, on the face of it the purpose of this amendment, tabled by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, is to provide for a pilot of polygraph testing for terrorist offenders in the UK and for a report to be prepared and laid with a recommendation on commencement before the provisions are commenced. I appreciate, however, that the debate has gone a little broader than...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 42 to 65 inclusive and to Amendments 69, 71, 72, 74 and 76. I make four very short points. First, the hour is late and getting later. Secondly, these are all technical and consequential amendments. Thirdly, we have placed an explanatory note for each of them, which I am sure Members of the Committee will have looked at. Fourthly, I propose to set out...