Heidi Alexander MP: speeches

326 published records · newest first.

Speeches

5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
We are currently operating 18 Nightingale courts in eight different locations, and we continue to recruit to the judiciary. The Conservatives cannot wash their hands of responsibility for the Crown court backlog. It was rising before covid. They closed more than 260 court buildings. They express concern now, but there was scant evidence of that in the 14 years they were in power.
5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
I agree. This Government inherited a record and rising Crown court backlog. We walked into a criminal justice system on the brink of collapse, with our prisons overflowing and our courts buckling under the weight of demand. While we cannot fix this mess overnight, we will do everything we can to ensure swift justice for victims and to restore faith in the entire system.
5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
We are funding 106,500 Crown court sitting days this financial year—500 days more than the previous Government originally agreed. To reduce the number of cases that end up at the Crown court, we are also extending magistrates’ sentencing powers to up to 12 months for an individual offence.
5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system, and it underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties. The previous Government left the civil and criminal legal aid markets in dire straits and facing significant challenges. We intend to publish our response shortly to the “Crime Lower” consultation, which relates to the fees paid to duty solicitors in police stations among other things, and we will follow up on that with our response to the Law Society’s successful judicial review of the previous Government’s decision on criminal legal aid fees.
5 Nov 2024 · Crown Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
If the hon. Gentleman writes to me with specific details of the issues in his local magistrates court, I will raise those with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. We were successful in securing a £177 million increase in capital spending for the Ministry of Justice in last week’s Budget. That will cover expenditure on prisons and courts.
5 Nov 2024 · Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend raises some interesting points and, as he is, I am always very keen to help people in Swindon. Our focus is on responding to the consultation on including claimant data on the register, which would improve financial inclusion by helping people to resolve judgment debts. Once our response has been published and any reforms regarding claimant data are implemented, we will consider any wider reforms.
5 Nov 2024 · Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines · Hansard source
More
The register plays an important role in helping lenders assess credit worthiness and enhancing financial transparency. These objectives seek to support vulnerable debtors by encouraging and enabling responsible borrowing. A consultation on including claimant data on the register closed recently. Responses to it were very positive and I hope to announce a way forward imminently.
5 Nov 2024 · Legal Aid · Hansard source
More
Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system. It underpins our plans to build a justice system that works for victims, supports access to justice and upholds the rule of law. We are looking carefully at the evidence gathered as part of the review of civil legal aid, which covered issues such as demand, fee levels and the geographic provision of services.
5 Nov 2024 · Legal Aid · Hansard source
More
My hon. Friend has significant experience of working in the legal aid sector, and she is right to highlight the importance of good quality legal advice to resolving a whole range of social welfare problems. We are looking at how to improve access to early legal advice and support, but she will appreciate the challenging financial outlook that we are grappling with. I will raise the administrative issues in relation to the Legal Aid Agency with its chief executive.
5 Nov 2024 · Legal Aid · Hansard source
More
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. I have yet to have those conversations with my counterparts in Northern Ireland, but I hope to do so in the coming months.
10 Sept 2024 · Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
I hear you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the question from my hon. Friend. He will know that His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service keeps the court estate under regular review to ensure that it meets operational requirements. I am afraid there are currently no plans to reopen Hartlepool magistrates court, but I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend alongside officials from HMCTS to discuss his concerns. The reasons behind the increased caseload in our criminal courts are complex and multifaceted, but the number of courtrooms available is not the main constraint we currently face.
10 Sept 2024 · Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
It is good to be back. Mr Speaker. The Government are committed to reducing caseloads and bringing waiting times down for court users across all jurisdictions. We continue to keep 18 Nightingale courtrooms open across eight venues, so that we have more physical capacity to hear cases in all jurisdictions. We plan to sit more than 105,000 days in the Crown court and more than 102,000 days in the family court this financial year, enabling us to work through as many cases as possible.
10 Sept 2024 · Court Backlog · Hansard source
More
I may be having another meeting, with the hon. Gentleman, as well as looking at the court in Chorley, and I am happy to discuss that matter with him.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend. I am also very keen that we keep under review what more can be done to support vulnerable defendants going through the single justice procedure, and to improve oversight and regulation of the organisations using that procedure.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
I am aware from correspondence that I have received, as the Member of Parliament for Swindon South, that there are significant concerns about the collapse of law firms such as SSB Solicitors, Axiom Law and McClure. As my hon. Friend said, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is looking at this, as is the Legal Services Board, and I shall be happy to speak to her further to provide an update.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
As I said to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler), we will do everything we can to ensure swift justice for the victims of Grenfell. We plan for the Crown court to sit for at least 105,000 days this financial year, and we will do more to increase the speed with which cases are heard in the Crown court.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
Access to justice is integral to a fair society, including for our rural communities. In our courts and tribunals, modernised services and a more effective use of technology can improve people’s access to the justice system, but I recognise that there is more to do and I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
I am very pleased to be responding to a fellow Swindon Member, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the chance to mention our home town during my first ministerial outing. I should add that I am also grateful to local judiciary court staff and justice stakeholders for their work in maintaining justice during that incident in Swindon. As the Lord Chancellor said earlier, ensuring that buildings are maintained effectively is critical to the delivery of justice.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
What happened to Mr Malkinson is appalling, both for him and for the victim of the crime. It is vital that lessons are learned. As the right hon. Gentleman will know, following the publication of the Henley review of the CCRC’s handling of Mr Malkinson’s case, the Lord Chancellor’s view is that the current chair is unfit to fulfil her duties. As for resources, the amount that the CCRC has received in recent years has risen, and we will continue to keep that under review.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
The hon. Lady may know that we currently offer free transcripts of judges’ sentencing remarks to families of victims of fatal road offences, murder and manslaughter. In May, we extended free transcripts of sentencing remarks to victims of rape and serious sexual offences, in a year-long pilot. We will continue to look at how we can lower the costs of obtaining a court transcript.
10 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
More
As I have said, the Crown court will sit for more than 105,000 days this financial year—an increase of 28% on the year before the pandemic. That means that there is more capacity in the Crown court this year than in six of the past seven years. We have inherited a criminal justice system on life support as a result of the previous Government, and we have a broken economy. Everyone can see the state of the public finances, and justice is not immune from that.
10 Sept 2024 · Criminal Justice System: Progress of Cases · Hansard source
More
I will take that away and do that.
10 Sept 2024 · Criminal Justice System: Progress of Cases · Hansard source
More
We are committed to ensuring the swift delivery of justice for victims at all stages of the criminal justice system, and we are working closely with various partners involved to achieve that aim. In relation to the courts, we plan to sit more than 105,000 working days in the Crown court this financial year, and we continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale courts. We are also considering other measures to speed up justice for victims, and we will make further announcements in due course.
10 Sept 2024 · Criminal Justice System: Progress of Cases · Hansard source
More
I hesitate to answer the right hon. Gentleman’s question, given that my boss is a former barrister—I say that we cannot have too many. Only last week I discussed the adequacy of numbers of legal professionals in the Crown court with the chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Mary Prior, and I will be working with the profession to ensure not only that we are recruiting sufficient barristers to work in the courts, but that we are retaining barristers at the criminal Bar.
10 Sept 2024 · Criminal Justice System: Progress of Cases · Hansard source
More
What we are experiencing is the very long tail of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which has meant that both the civil and criminal legal aid sectors have faced huge challenges. That is vital to people’s access to justice.

Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →