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Welcome to BBC's Parliament live coverage of the House of Commons. | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
The Leader of the House will announce the forthcoming business in | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
the chamber and take questions from MPs. After that, there are two | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
debates put forward by backbenchers. The first is on the UN international | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
day for the elimb makes of violence against women and the second is | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
about NHS England's cancer strategy. Remember to join me for a round-up | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
of the day in both Houses of Parliament at 11pm tonight. But | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
first we have questions to the Attorney-General's office. | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
THE SPEAKER: Order. Order. Questions to the Attorney-General. Thank you | :00:42. | :00:50. | |
mrrks speaker. We have the strongest legal framework in the world | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
including the modern slavery Act which came into force in July of | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
last year. The law office is supporting the Prime Minister's | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
taskforce on modern slavery and the CPS continues to see a year-on-year | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
increase in the number of prosecutions. | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
THE SPEAKER: The honourable gentleman seeks to group the | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
question with numbers six and eight. I make the application to group the | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
questions in that order. THE SPEAKER: The honourable | :01:15. | :01:23. | |
gentleman maybe learned, if not, it may only be a matter of time! Often | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
these victims will not come forward because they're being controlled | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
through acts of fear and violence. What more can my honourable friend | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
do to support vulnerable women through the process? Well, my | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
honourable friend is right to raise that issue and the CPS has been | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
instrumental in developing special measures to help people with | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
vulnerabilities to give evidence such as the pre-recording of | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
cross-examination, ground rules hearings that are held ahead of the | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
trials and evidence via remote link. All those measures help increase | :02:05. | :02:06. | |
confidence that support will be there for victims. | :02:07. | :02:20. | |
THE SPEAKER: I'm sure the honourable member was notified. Where is the | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
honourable fella? Can he tell me more about what the Crown | :02:26. | :02:27. | |
Prosecution Service is doing to prosecute this type of offence in | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
the north-west of England? I note my honourable friend's interest as a | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
north-west MP and I'm happy to tell her under the new modern day slavery | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
offence eight charges were laid in the north-west region and eight | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
offence in the mercy-Cheshire region, plus other offences under | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
older legislation and last month, three people were convicted of | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
modern day slavery and human trafficking in Liverpool and were | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
sentenced to a total of seven years and three months imprisonment. | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
Many of the prosecutions were the result of the European Arrest | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
Warrant playing an important part. Would the minister ensure that with | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
the Home Office, he makes sure that the European Arrest Warrant remains | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
a useful tool, whatever the outcome of Brexit negotiations? The | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
honourable gentleman is quite right to note the huge importance of the | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
European Arrest Warrant in streamlining the process. That | :03:23. | :03:31. | |
together with other tools in order to encourage close co-operation are | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
a vital means by which we can deal with what is an international crime. | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
The modern slavery act review revealed although it is national | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
Crown Prosecution Service policy that all trafficking and | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
exploitation cases be referred to the complex case work unit and in | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
practise the policy is not always followed. What measures are being | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
put in place to reduce the number of cases that could slip through the | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
cracks like this? I'm glad to say the review is forming a key part of | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
the Prime Minister's taskforce. And at all levels, proper emphasis is | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
placed upon the serious nature of this type of offending and let's not | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
forget as well, there are other types of offence as well that | :04:21. | :04:23. | |
encompass this behaviour that need to be dealt with as well. The | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
complex unit is indeed having a key and increasingly important role in | :04:28. | :04:29. | |
the prosecution of this type of crime. | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
The Solicitor-General is responsible for the prosecution of trackers, not | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
for the detection of them and nor their sentencing, but could he tell | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
the House what are the main barriers to him in securing successful | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
prosecutions? Well, the honourable gentleman is right to say these are | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
challenging offences and I think the problem is Mr Speaker that often the | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
victims of this type of crime take a while to realise that they are in | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
that position. When they come forward they want a consistent | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
approach from the authorities that give them support when they come to | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
give evidence. That's the emphasis that the CPS and other agencies are | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
playing and with that increasing support we are seeing the barriers | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
being removed. THE SPEAKER: It is good to see the | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
honourable gentleman back in his place. Mr Speaker, the review, the | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
independent review commissioned by the Prime Minister that the | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
Solicitor-General has referred to, expressed concern about the | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
insufficient quality and quantity of intelligence at national, regional | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
and international level which it is said hampers our operational | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
response. What steps does the Solicitor-General think can be taken | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
to ensure that our exit from the European Union does not further | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
hamper our operational response? Well, can I firstly welcome the | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
honourable gentleman back to his place at what is a challenging time | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
for his family and we send him best wishes. He is right to talk about | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
international working. The taskforce in the form of the NCA and the other | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
agencies are placing heavy emphasis upon the need for that intelligence | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
gathering to be improved. And as we know, when exit from the EU happens | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
I firmly believe there will be mechanisms in place to ensure that | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
that important work carries on unimpeded whether it is by way of | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
mutual legal assistance or indeed some of the other mechanisms to | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
which we've opted in to and which no doubt will be an important part of | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
the negotiation in the months ahead. I'm grateful to the | :06:34. | :06:35. | |
Solicitor-General for his kind words and good wishes to my family at this | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
time. This Solicitor-General set out that our membership of the European | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
Union gives us access to a European toolkit which the Director of Public | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Prosecutions referred to as vital. There is access to agencies such as | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
for example euro just. Just specifically on Eurojust where we | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
have one of the busiest desks, what will the Solicitor-General do to | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
ensure we quickly negotiate a new relationship with Euro-just? Well, | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
the honourable gentleman is right to emphasise other mechanisms. Eurojust | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
can be another mechanism that's relevant. Clearly, they have to form | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
a central part of any negotiation and be a priority for the | :07:28. | :07:29. | |
negotiating team when it comes to those details. The CPS is well aware | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
of this issue and has been raising it and the law offices will, of | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
course play their part in raising these important issues too. Number | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
two, Mr Speaker. THE SPEAKER: Indeed. Mr Speaker, | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
we're committed to tackling hate crime in any form across forgive me, | :07:49. | :07:57. | |
can I apply for this question to be grouped with questions five and | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
seven. So the numbering has changed. Forgive me. As I was saying Mr | :08:02. | :08:10. | |
Speaker, the cross Government hate group action group, focuses on hate | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
crime and the increasing of reporting and then suring that all | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
criminal justice partners deliver outcomes for victims. | :08:21. | :08:31. | |
His speciality is words dash rather than numbers, dash! I was concerned | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
about the spike in the number of racial and religious aggravated | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
offences after the referendum. Can my honourable and learned friend | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
tell the House whether the trend has continued in recent months? Well, my | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
honourable friend is right to raise this issue because I think we were | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
all concerned with the spike that clearly occurred after the | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
referendum. The total number of racial and religiously aggravated | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
offences being reported in July was 41% higher than in the previous | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
year, but I'm happy to report that the number of that type of reported | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
offence has now declined and are at similar levels to before the | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
referendum. Would my honourable friend look | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
carefully at the law relating to abusive and offensive online posts. | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
Often when I look at these remarks, particularly when someone has died, | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
it is quite incredible that newspapers seem to host these posts | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
when I think these cowards should have their names and addresses | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
printed along with the offensive posts. My honourable friend raises a | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
proper point of increasing concern. Can assure him that anonymity | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
perceived or real is not an escape route for perpetrators. The use of | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
false online profiles and websites still means Mr Speaker, they are | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
traceable and these people can and will be pursued just like the | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
appalling individual who only this week was convicted of offences | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
arising from a racist campaign against the honourable member for | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
Liverpool. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm grateful | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
for my honourable friend's answer. Can he say more specifically what | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
the Government are doing to tackle hate crime against those with | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
learning disabilities and autism? Well, I'm grateful to my honourable | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
friend for raising an issue which has been of consistent importance to | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
me since my appointment to this office. I'm glad to note there has | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
been a rise of 44% in the number of prosecution for disability hate | :10:41. | :10:42. | |
crime generally in the last yearment when it comes to learning disability | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
and autism I'm a strong supporter of local advocacy groups which will | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
often be the first port of call when a complaint is made by a person with | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
an impairment. Where the police work with these groups, more people with | :10:58. | :10:58. | |
a learning difficulty will come a learning difficulty will come | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
forward and I want to see this good practise spread much further. | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
On the ground, in North Wales, the number of prosecutions generally is | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
falling and for that reason, how can we ensure the public perceptions are | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
reflected in prosecuting policy so that more individuals who commit | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
crime get taken to court and dealt with by the magistrates who tell me | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
that their courts are empty? Well, I'm grateful to the honourable | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
gentleman. I'm following the position very carefully in all parts | :11:33. | :11:34. | |
of England and Wales and he's right to say that there are some areas | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
like his where there hasn't been the rise that we have seen in others. I | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
think what we have to do is further encourage consistency, the training | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
that's been rolled out in recent months to all the CPS areas, I think | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
needs to bed in and I think with that approach we will see a rise | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
across-the-board in not just the prosecution of these offences, but | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
the confidence of victims to come forward. | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
Would the Attorney-General agree that the prosecution of hate crimes | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
has helped when the victim feels supported enough to give evidence | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
and more training must be provided by the teams that deal with hate | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
crimes UK-wide to ensure that all possible support is afforded to | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
victims and their families? The honourable gentleman knows from his | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
experience in Northern Ireland, the Leonard Cheshire charity have an | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
excellent scheme in place to support victims. It echos the point I was | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
making earlier for the need for best practise to be spread to give better | :12:36. | :12:36. | |
support. I'm sure he would agree that | :12:37. | :12:49. | |
regional rates are accepted, so would he set out how the crime would | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
be dealt with and it would not depend on where a person lives. He | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
is right to hear to need the points that have been made. Can I reassure | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
him that the training that is being provided applies to all regions of | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
the CPS. It's been done on a national basis and that means that | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
in whichever part of the country, there should be the same awareness | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
and understanding, but the sensitivities should apply when it | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
comes to disability hate crime. We need to look at the person beyond | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
the disability and understand that their advice has to be heard. I | :13:27. | :13:34. | |
don't think this question is cooked with any other, but I'm willing to | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
be corrected. If I'm right, can I say to him that the offence of | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
failing to prevent bribery under the Bribery Act has incentivised good | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
governors within companies. The new offence of failing to prevent tax | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
evasion is included in the criminal finance is Bill going through | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
Parliament at the moment, and a call for evidence will be published | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
shortly to explore the options for further reform. I am grateful for | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
the answer. He has had a busy week. I am sure he is aware there is real | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
concern that it has become much harder to prosecute senior directors | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
of companies that have been involved in serious wrongdoings. When he gets | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
into the consultation, perhaps he will see when that will be antique | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
look at other regimes to see how they perform better than us. It is | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
no disrespect to my colleague to see he's not the most intimidating | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
tribunal I have addressed this week. He is right that we should look at | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
the examples abroad as well as domestic practice to make sure we | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
are doing all we can to deal with corporate criminal offending. We | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
must address the issue that if it is easy or easier to prosecute those in | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
charge of small companies and those in charge of large companies, | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
because of the complexity of their management structures, that cannot | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
be right. During the passage of the Criminal Finance Is Bill, the | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
government has so far refused to extend the corporate crown beyond | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
tax evasion. Does the Attorney General agree that companies should | :15:16. | :15:25. | |
only be criminally liable for tax evasion. Because of the questions | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
she has asked, that is why we're asking for evidence on the subject | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
and then we will conduct consultation to see whether there is | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
a key is to extend the sort of failure to prevent offences she is | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
describing beyond bribery, when it currently exists, and tax evasion, | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
where it will shortly be, when Parliament passes the Bill. I think | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
that is an argument to say we should look at this, because there are | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
other types of offending and it would be sensible to consider | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
whether a failure to prevent an offence would be suitable to deal | :15:59. | :15:59. | |
with that. Would my right honourable friend | :16:00. | :16:16. | |
also agree that we should be looking out to other matters, one is the | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
question is the issue of asset freezing for those involved in | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
corruption and secondly, to enforce that, we must maintain the operation | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
independence of the Serious Fraud Office. I think it is worth looking | :16:33. | :16:42. | |
at this and I think there are many people who believe there are gaps in | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
the law here. But it is also important to beat sure we take full | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
account of concerns expressed about the burdens placed on businesses of | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
all kinds if we get that balance wrong. But I think he's right that | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
we should look at. In relation to asset freezing assets seizure, he is | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
right but if we're going to successfully prosecuted and | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
convicted or is engaged in criminal activity, we must also make sure we | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
can recover assets when that is appropriate, so we will look at that | :17:12. | :17:22. | |
in the process we are engaged in. The United Kingdom has a proud | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
tradition for respect of human rights, which long predates the EU | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
and which will continue following our withdrawal from it. Can the | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
Attorney General tell the house what existing human rights enjoyed by UK | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
citizens under EU directives could not or should not be enshrined in UK | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
law, if or when we leave the EU. As I hope I made clear in my first | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
answer, I don't believe human rights protection in this country are | :17:53. | :17:55. | |
dependent on EU law, and we will certainly look, in the course of the | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
great repeal Bill and other measures, which this house will have | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
to consider, how we transfer those obligations currently under EU law | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
into domestic law, where the house believes that is appropriate to do. | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
I maintain the view that we will continue to protect human rights in | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
this country, and more than that, we will continue to be leading | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
advocates of human rights around the world. Is that the government policy | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
that we will introduce a separate bill of rights for British law? I | :18:28. | :18:37. | |
remain of the view that human rights law needs reform. We are in full | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
agreement that we have no quarrel with the content of the European | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
Convention on human rights, it is the way that document is apply that | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
gives us difficulty. The government is committed to do something about | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
that. You may have noticed we have a few other things are played at the | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
moment and we will be to resolve those before we resolve the matter | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
he refers to. What passions can the minister give, once lead to exit the | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
EU and become once again an emancipated, liberated nation state | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
on the stage of the worlds, that we will maintain that pride, heritage | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
and tradition in the United Kingdom of defending individual rights | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
within this United Kingdom? I entirely share his confidence. I | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
think we will certainly do that. We always have and we always will and | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
we will do it in all parts of the United Kingdom. As he knows, we will | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
make sure that in the process of exiting the UK, all parts of the UK | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
are engaged in that process. Does he agree with me that when referring to | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
our exit from the EU, it is important to distinguish between | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
that and the convention that the government policy continues to be, | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
that we should remain in the European Convention and observe | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
human rights as before. He is right, those things are distinct. It is our | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
exit from the EU that the public have confirmed in a referendum. But | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
of course, our commitment to human rights will be maintained, and it | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
will be maintained not just domestically, but also abroad. | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
Questions to the Minister for women and equality is. Question number | :20:24. | :20:33. | |
one, Mr Speaker. The Minister for women and equality is, Justine | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
Greening. Careers guidance should help all young people to get the | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
inspiration and advice and guidance they need for success in working | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
life. We want to see schools getting impartial guidance, but also | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
high-quality guidance. That's why we're investing ?90 million over | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
this Parliament to improve careers provision for young people. She is | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
right, good quality career advice is essential. Neither further plans for | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
the government to remove barriers from women when they progress with | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
their careers, particularly when they have young children? He is | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
absolutely right to highlight this. When we look in detail at the gender | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
pay gap, it is often starting a family that is | :21:21. | :21:21. |