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Join me for the round-up of the day at 11pm tonight. First, we have | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
questions to the Attorney General. Order. Questions to the Attorney | :00:00. | :00:18. | |
General. Number one. I will answer this with 13. There are a number of | :00:19. | :00:26. | |
factors at various stages that are likely to impact on conviction rates | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
for rape, but the CPS is committed to improving this conviction rate by | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
working closely with partners and police force areas. Order to provide | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
the consistency of approach necessary, networks of violence | :00:40. | :00:48. | |
against women and girls coordinators have been established. CPS National | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
guidance says improvements have been made by the appointment of rape | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
specialist prosecutors. But the success of this is dependent on the | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
evidence being referred to raise lawyers in the first place. One of | :01:00. | :01:07. | |
my constituents was raped, and she found this out to her distress. Can | :01:08. | :01:21. | |
he comment on the week between the number of... I listened to the case | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
that she mentioned with some concern. In her area, the unit has | :01:28. | :01:37. | |
generated an improvement in conviction rate in the North West, | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
by 10% in the last year. But she is right to talk about the earlier | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
stages, particularly the coordination, which is all about the | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
investigative help that should make the experience for victims better, | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
because experience shows that attrition rates are too high. So why | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
does the Attorney General think that some of the lowest rates, 38.5%, | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
with the highest that 80%, via years that difference? What specific thing | :02:09. | :02:17. | |
does he think the CPS can do? -- why does he think there is that | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
difference? I am glad to see a strong commitment to a greater | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
national approach to this, which is why the setting up of RASO units is | :02:28. | :02:39. | |
vital. The CPS have recruited many officers, and I believe this will | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
drive up conviction rates. In Northern Ireland there were only 20 | :02:44. | :02:52. | |
-- over 28,000 incidents, 737 cases of rape. Conviction rates are too | :02:53. | :03:01. | |
low, and many victims of domestic violence do not get reported. I am | :03:02. | :03:15. | |
happy to say that in England and where the overall numbers and | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
volumes of cases being brought, not just rape but also associated | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
violence and sexual abuse in a domestic setting continue to rise, | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
which means justice for thousands more of it is every year. What steps | :03:29. | :03:37. | |
has he taken to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service discuss | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
with the police the kind of evidence that needs to be on the file sent to | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
them, to secure a conviction? And has he also reviewed with the Home | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
Office does police forces who were accused of putting too many rape | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
cases in the no crime category without investigations? It is an | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
operational matter for the police, but the general principles and the | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
policy issues raised are very important. This is why the Attorney | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
General and I take a great interest in the important work of the RASO | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
units, the specialist prosecutors who work at an early stage with the | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
police to identify the sort of evidence needed to secure those | :04:25. | :04:26. | |
convictions. So she is right to raise that point. Over the past 18 | :04:27. | :04:36. | |
months, the Serious Fraud Office has secured the first contested | :04:37. | :04:47. | |
conviction for rape rigging, and its first prosecution agreement. | :04:48. | :05:00. | |
SFA -- SFO opened only three cases despite all the reports to them. Why | :05:01. | :05:09. | |
is what they do so much less than the government's rhetoric? He will | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
appreciate that there is more than one body in the system that | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
prosecutes fraud, and the Serious Fraud Office deals with only the | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
most complex and difficult cases, so it is not surprising that of all of | :05:22. | :05:30. | |
the cases reported, only a small proportion is dealt with by the | :05:31. | :05:32. | |
Serious Fraud Office, but they are set up to deal with most difficult | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
and complex cases. Is it not important not only that the Serious | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
Fraud Office but other government agencies all have access to | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
communications data in order to ensure convictions? I think he is | :05:52. | :05:59. | |
entirely right. Communication data is important in the prosecution of | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
all types of offending. For example the majority of prosecutions | :06:04. | :06:14. | |
regarding terrorism. The investigatory Powers Bill before the | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
House is so important. Is the Attorney General conscious that | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
there is a deep problem. The Serious Fraud Office is underfunded and | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
under resourced and cannot attract the greatest talent for these | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
complex cases. Is he aware that in terms of the Icelandic banks | :06:35. | :06:45. | |
disaster is still there, the money from British taxpayers should be | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
retrieved. And they do not have the expertise in-house. Will he look at | :06:54. | :07:02. | |
Grant Thornton in that respect I cannot comment on specific cases and | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
he will understand that it is the director of the Serious Fraud | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
Office's responsibility to decide whether to open prosecutions. | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
Regarding funding, the core funding for the Serious Fraud Office has | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
increased, not decreased, and the Serious Fraud Office also has access | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
to Blockbuster funding to enable it to take on large and substantial | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
cases when the need arises. Birdie to retain the core capability | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
throughout that period, there would be -- they would be sometimes not | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
using it to its full extent. I think that is an appropriate way to | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
proceed, and we will always make sure that the Serious Fraud Office | :07:46. | :07:47. | |
has the funding it needs to prosecute cases it should. I | :07:48. | :07:57. | |
listened carefully to that response because this week's report from the | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate into the government's | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
arrangements found the funding model does not represent value for money | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
and also founded his incompatible with long-term strategy, for those | :08:10. | :08:18. | |
future investigations and prosecutions. So will he look at | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
alternative funding models to ensure that the SFO is on a sustainable | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
footing and not subject to the Treasury veto? She will recognise | :08:27. | :08:34. | |
that this report from the Chief Inspector, which I asked him to | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
produce to look at the way the Serious Fraud Office is governed, | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
was a very balanced report, putting forward some positive points about | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
the way in which the Serious Fraud Office has improved under the | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
direction of the current director. But she is right. Questions were | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
asked about the funding model and there is a balanced to be struck | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
here, as I have indicated. We have to make sure the Serious Fraud | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
Office has the money it needs, and the direct will never refuse to | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
proceed in a case for a lack of funding, so there is no veto, as she | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
suggests. But we have to balance the need for that money with the need | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
not to have capacity which is not being used and being paid for by the | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
taxpayer. So the Blockbuster funding model has been considered to strike | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
the balance correctly, but I will look carefully at what the Chief | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
Inspector Kay says, and decide whether changes appropriate. I will | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
answer this with questions five, six, seven and 11. As pro bono | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
champions of the government, the Attorney General and I continue to | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
support a number of projects throughout coordinating committees | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
that we believe crime for is how important pro bono education is, | :09:53. | :10:02. | |
internationally as well as domestic. Forgive me regarding the numbering, | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
it is sometimes difficult to follow when there are number of questions | :10:07. | :10:18. | |
on the same matter. Forgiveness is given! The action of certain lawyers | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
bring the profession to disrepute, but thousands of people across the | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
country achieve justice through pro bono work. Will he agree with me | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
that those lawyers that give their time free of charge are helping | :10:35. | :10:46. | |
justice in this country? In the last financial year, ?601 million worth | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
of work was provided pro bono by lawyers in private practice. The | :10:52. | :11:01. | |
solicitors are recognising that their time makes a difference to | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
people who would be denied access to justice otherwise. | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
They play an important role within our society and often operate under | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
immense financial pressure. What is my honourable friend doing to | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
encourage law firms to provide pro bono services to the small charity | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
to cut running costs and focus resources on making a difference | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
within communities? I think the lady raises an interesting point. It's | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
right to pay tribute to the existing pro bono commitment by the legal | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
profession is alongside the voluntary sector in terms of | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
trustees support and other advice that is given to a range of local | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
charities both in her constituency, my constituency and many other | :11:52. | :11:53. | |
communities the length of this country. Can the Minister update the | :11:54. | :12:04. | |
house as to whether he believes the public legal understanding has | :12:05. | :12:06. | |
caught up with the legal changes surrounding sexting and revenge | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
pornography? I think there is no valuable role to be played in the | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
form of public legal education -- invaluable role. I have seen in | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
schools how the support of lawyers can run sessions and social media | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
and law. It is of extreme sensitivity and importance to young | :12:32. | :12:33. | |
people in particular and I believe that with the running of appropriate | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
courses young people can be taught about the consequences of these | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
criminal acts. The legal profession may have its the tractors but one of | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
its finest traditions is that lawyers are encouraged to undertake | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
pro bono work but what more can be done to take this pro bono work into | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
schools both in Dorset and across the country? I'm grateful to my | :12:59. | :13:06. | |
friend who is a barrister of some distinction in the South West speaks | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
with experience about his work and indeed the role of pro bono in the | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
profession that he and I are part of. I would urge him to liaise with | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
local law firms that he will know well in his constituency in order to | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
spread the work through schools and colleges throughout his part Dorset | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
and in the wider area. I'm sure the gentlemen will put that tribute on | :13:30. | :13:38. | |
his website! In a matter of minutes! I thank the Attorney General for his | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
replies on this topic. I would ask how the government can further help | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
the efforts of charities such as law works, a pro bono legal advice | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
service supported by the Law Society which targets the most needy and has | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
offices across the UK. I'm grateful to my friend and he's right to raise | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
law works. It's been an active member of the coordinating committee | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
of pro bono for several years since October of 2014 the Ministry of | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
Justice has provided funding the litigant person support strategy | :14:12. | :14:13. | |
which is designed to help organisations in the third sector to | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
deliver increased support to litigants in person and I'm sure | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
that he will put that on his website. I've done if fair bit of | :14:22. | :14:32. | |
pro bono legal work as well. It is often a supper jute where there is | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
inadequate access to legal aid. It was greatly cart and the last | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
government. Will this government look at the possibility of taking | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
interest and client account and using that for legal aid? That is | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
each solicitor in private practice having a client account in which a | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
client 's money is kept separately, that and interests, such interest in | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
some jurisdictions is used to fund legal aid. This common should look | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
about for England. I appreciate the constructive part of the gentleman | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
's question. It is an idea that I think should be looked at by my | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
colleagues in the Ministry of Justice. However I am cautious about | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
compulsion because one of the great things about pro bono is that it is | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
a voluntary thing but I will say this to him, it's all very well for | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
the honourable gentleman to criticises government for cuts to | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
legal aid but he'll remember being a member of Parliament at the time of | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
the so-called axis to Justice act when a Labour government destroyed | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
civil legal aid so I won't take lectures from the party opposite. I | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
have always been a supporter of pro bono work when I was a barrister | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
before entered this house and since but would the general approved agree | :15:50. | :15:52. | |
with me that on the basis of his last and so will he said that Bruno | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
won't work is voluntary, that is provides CYA could never be used as | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
a policy solution to sort out the government cuts to legal aid. As Lee | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
and wouldn't when well knows, by the attorney and I and the governments | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
do not advocate it is a supper jute. It is an adjunct to legal aid and | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
always should be. Nobody is going to deny the work of pro bono and | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
welcome it, but it is no supper jute for access to justice. There will be | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
no -- so we know which areas get the justice, will the Minister publish | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
only hours pro bono are available in each geographical area so we know | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
whether we do have access to justice? I think with respect to | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
everybody who works in the pro bono area I do not want to be attracted | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
from the important work of pro bono by trying to pretend that somehow it | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
isn't legal aid service, it is not, it is voluntary, it is a vital part | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
of what it is to be a lawyer and not only does it provide a benefit for | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
those who it serves it also is an important part of the redevelopment | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
of lawyers themselves. This party is committed to funding our legal | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
services, with spending just short of ?2 billion a year on legal aid | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
and I'm sorry, it sits very ill for the party opposite to lecture is | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
about the amount we spend on legal aid when it merrily cut it when in | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
office. I declare an interest in that my wife is a part-time tribunal | :17:34. | :17:41. | |
judge and legal aid lawyer. We'll praise the work of lawyers who give | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
up their time to advice and assist and law centres and citizens advice | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
bureau but does the Minister agree that these individuals and | :17:55. | :17:56. | |
organisations cannot possibly fill the gap left by class sport? In | :17:57. | :18:08. | |
April 2010, more than 470,000 people received assistance for social | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
welfare matters, just 12 months after last port that number was on | :18:13. | :18:21. | |
the 53,000, a drop of 19%. Will the Minister please urge the Justice | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
Secretary to bring forward the promised review of last port? I hear | :18:27. | :18:34. | |
what the honourable gentleman says and I will say to him again that I | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
think that whilst it is absolutely right thrust to celebrate the work | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
of barristers, solicitors and legal executives in providing pro bono and | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
public legal education, this country still enjoys one of the most | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
generous and widespread legal aid systems in the world. It is | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
something that we should be proud about and something we should | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
celebrate and it is not... It is wrong that the party opposite seek | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
to take the moral high ground when I watched them cut the legal aid | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
system when they had 13 years in power. Number five. There are a | :19:09. | :19:23. | |
number of factors that are likely to impact upon the variation of | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
conviction rates for disability hate crimes. I'm actively considering | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
them and I believe that the best practice in order to provide | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
consistency of approach is the network of hate crime coordinators | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
that the CPS has established which includes the important issue of | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
disability hate crime. I thank the Attorney General. There were 62,000 | :19:42. | :19:52. | |
estimated disability hate crimes in 2013. Only 574 resulted in | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
prosecutions. As he said, there was huge regional variation in the | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
prosecution rate so is he concerned as I am about this uncanny be a bit | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
more specific about how he is actually going to address this so | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
disability hate crime doesn't depend on where you live? I'm grateful to | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
the honourable lady and she will know that I've had a long-standing | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
interest in this issue and I travelled to her region some months | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
ago and met with local advocacy groups waste Preston who deal with | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
third-party reporting because a lot of people with disabilities do not | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
have the confidence to go straight to the police and I believe it | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
through third-party reporting mechanisms that we can bridge that | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
gap between a 62,000 cases she mentioned and the small number of | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
prosecutions. We got to improve that rate. These are terrible crimes but | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
one of the problems is the inconsistencies in different police | :20:48. | :20:49. | |
areas. Does he agree with me that this is an important role for the | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
College policing to make sure standards are consistent throughout | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
the country? I am grateful. He is correct in his assumption. There was | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
an invaluable roundtable at the national college of policing in | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
September which I attended and spoke out involving regional leaders from | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
all parts of the country precisely designed to deal with the issue of | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
hate crime and in particular disability hate crime. I think that | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
by sharing best practice such as the third-party reporting mechanisms I | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
mentioned we can improve and raises rates not just in relation to hate | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
crime but all crime committed against people with disabilities. | :21:28. | :21:34. | |
Nine. As the house would expect, I meet very readily with the advocate | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
general for Scotland and the conversations I have with him cover | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
a wide range of topics. Human rights are not confirmed by the new | :21:44. | :21:45. | |
Scotland act because they are already devolved. This is because | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
they are not listed within schedule five of the Scotland act 1998. Does | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
the Attorney General accept the changing Scotland's framework of | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
human rights will require a legislative consent motion from this | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
cottage Parliament? I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of the | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
Scottish Nationalist party to have the same question inside a different | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
ways every time we meet. As she knows because she's heard the answer | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
before, the Human Rights Act is not a devolved matter, the Human Rights | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
Act is a reserved matter and that is a matter which the whole United | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
Kingdom Parliament will consider when we bring forward proposals for | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
change. Ingenuity is a valuable parliamentary commodity. I'm | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
genuinely mystified at our apparent ingenuity when clearly human rights | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
are not listed within schedule five, it is the exhaustive list of | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
reservations, it is not in there! What are the legal basis for this | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
assertion? Human rights are devolved to Scotland? I'm not sure how meet | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
on the end of the same and away with it but the position is as set it | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
out. The position is as I've set it out. The Human Rights Act is a | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
matter for the UK Parliament and I entirely understand the frustration | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
of the SNP that they have to sit in the United Kingdom Parliament but | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
I'm afraid that was the decision of the Scottish people and they will | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
have to live with it. Questions to the Minister for women and equality | :23:15. | :23:25. | |
is. Number one. There are 306 to 5000 more disabled people in work | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
than two years ago. Our ambition to halve the disability employment gap | :23:30. | :23:31. | |
is a key priority for the government. People currently in the | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
work-related activity group will not see their payments reduced, however | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
all new claimants from April 2017 well and that includes many people | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
who have learning disabilities and need the same support as people... | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
Will further cuts in the incomes of the table people helped to work? | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
Those that would be in the support group will see no changes at all. On | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
the specific area of those with learning disabilities, we set up a | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
task force jointly with | :24:06. | :24:07. |