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Judges Council
31. Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon): If he will take steps to make the Judges Council publicly accountable. [84160]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Keith Vaz): The Judges Council is wholly independent of Government. It is an informal
judicial body that represents and supports the senior judiciary in the exercise of their constitutional functions. The independence of the judiciary must be respected.
Mr. Dismore: I join hon. Members in congratulating my hon. Friend on his promotion.
Does he agree with the assessment provided by the Library?
Mr. Vaz:
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind comments. I congratulate him on the fact that his remarks about judges in the Committee stage of the Access to Justice Bill have been selected as the quote of the week in the latest edition of The Lawyer magazine. The Judges Council is an independent body. It is quite right that the senior judiciary should feel that they can meet to discuss issues of concern, and it is also right that they should pass that advice to junior members of the judiciary. The Judges Council has not issued any instructions to anybody: it has merely given guidance. It is right that a body of this kind comprising senior judges should be able to do so.
I am not sure why my hon. Friend feels so strongly about judges. I hope to take some time off while in this job to introduce my hon. Friend to several judges. He will find that they are friendly people of enormous integrity--and some of them may even live in Hendon.
32. Ms Hazel Blears (Salford):
What role magistrates will play in the local partnerships established under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [84161]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Keith Vaz):
The magistrates courts committees will be consulted on issues that affect the work of the courts and invited to participate in partnerships established under the Crime and Disorder Act. Magistrates have a good understanding of local crime and disorder problems and will be able to provide valuable insights into those issues. It is important to keep open channels of communication if local partnerships are to be effective.
Ms Blears:
I welcome my hon. Friend to his new position, and I hope to explore with him his views about locally administered justice. Magistrates are clearly crucial to crime and disorder partnerships, particularly in implementing anti-social behaviour orders and administering new community-based punishments. It is important that local magistrates benches should administer justice locally from the magistrates courts. In Salford, the bench is very involved in the partnership and
Mr. Vaz:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I know of her interest in this matter and that, last year, she met the chairman of the Salford advisory committee to discuss how to increase the number of local magistrates and to broaden the nature of the bench. Those issues concern magistrates and magistrates courts committees. Although magistrates ought to be involved in those aspects of policy, it is important also that they are independent; they should not be involved in managing local strategies and they should never discuss individual cases. As long as those parameters are clear, we should support their role in ensuring that partnerships are successful.
Mr. Christopher Gill (Ludlow):
Further to the hon. Lady's question, is the Minister aware of the serious concern expressed by magistrates in Shropshire about the prospect of the closure of custody units at police stations in market towns in the county? Will he take this opportunity to tell my constituents that he believes that it is important to retain the full range of services at police stations that serve local magistrates courts in market towns throughout Shropshire?
Mr. Vaz:
Of course it is important that the full range of services is available, but clearly, in this case, local circumstances must be taken into account. If the hon. Gentleman feels strongly about the matter--this is the first time that he has brought it to my attention--and would like to discuss it with me, I will be happy to meet him and discuss it further.
34. Mr. Colin Breed (South-East Cornwall):
What plans he has for the provision of legal aid for representation at coroners courts. [84163]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Keith Vaz):
The Government do not intend to extend the scope of legal aid to provide representation at coroners courts in most cases. Unlike most court proceedings, coroners inquests are inquisitorial. Providing publicly funded representation at inquests and inquiries should not be a priority for taxpayers' money. However, the Access to Justice Bill contains a provision to enable the Legal Services Commission to fund representation when exceptional circumstances warrant it.
Mr. Breed:
I thank the Minister for his response--and Liberal Democrat Members, too, congratulate him on his new appointment. He will be aware of the tragic circumstances of one of my constituents, an 18-year-old girl who died last year in unexplained circumstances. Her mother would have found it extremely helpful to get professional advice and support to represent her views and
I accept the Minister's point about the Access to Justice Bill, but there is a small number of cases in which legal aid would not only assist the families but help to achieve justice.
Mr. Vaz:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind comments. The whole House feels for the family of Miss Andrews. I hope that he will pass on to her family my sympathy, as a parent, about the tragic circumstances of her case.
It is important that we prioritise legal aid money and that taxpayers' money should be directed to specific areas. There are exceptional circumstances in which advice and assistance can be given, but not in the cases referred to by the hon. Gentleman. I know that he has worked very hard on the case of Miss Andrews, and it is through his intervention that many of the agencies have opened up and provided her family with access to information. I thank him for that, and I will be happy to meet him and his constituent, Mrs. Andrews, if he thinks that such a meeting would be appropriate, provided that the discussion is not about legal aid. If the hon. Gentleman has found that there are problems in the workings of the system, I will be happy to meet him and discuss them.
35. Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield):
If he will make a statement regarding the location of county courts in Staffordshire. [84164]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Mr. Keith Vaz):
There are five county courts in Staffordshire: Burton-upon-Trent, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth and Lichfield.
Mr. Fabricant:
May I say how pleased I am to see the hon. Gentleman in his position--in my view, it is two years overdue? He knows from our correspondence over the past few days that the future of the Lichfield county court is at risk. Does he agree that there is a role for a partnership between magistrates courts and county courts, if they can save costs by sharing the same buildings?
Mr. Vaz:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind comments. I shall miss him in the lifts at Norman Shaw North. One of the first letters that I received, inherited from my predecessor, was his letter. With his silver tongue, as he demonstrated today, he obviously persuaded my predecessor of the need to defer the closure of the court. He has an absolute assurance from me that nothing will happen until the three-month period is over. I know that he has ensured that there will be a meeting on 28 May, and I congratulate him on convening it. I await with great interest the outcome of that meeting, which will keep me informed. I shall then let the hon. Gentleman know my final decision.
"The Council has no formal constitution, and as a collegiate body of judges who are themselves individually answerable to nobody, is formally answerable to no-one apart from those it represents. It meets six times a year, but its minutes are not published."
Bearing in mind the council's very important public functions--for example, making decisions about the outside interests of judges--does my hon. Friend agree that it is about time that, instead of allowing it to behave like a branch of MI5, we took a leaf out of the freedom of information book and put the Judges Council on a statutory footing?
3.31 pm
The Minister for the Cabinet Office (Dr. Jack Cunningham): With permission, Madam Speaker, I should like to make a statement about the Government's anti-drugs strategy.
I am pleased to lay before the House today the United Kingdom anti-drugs co-ordinator's first annual report and plan. No one in the House needs to be reminded of the importance of our fight against drugs. Quite apart from the devastating effect that drugs can have on users, their families and their friends, they have serious implications for all of us in the wider community.
Illegal drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine, are a major cause of crime. A heroin or crack cocaine addict can require an illegal income of £10,000 to £20,000 each year simply to feed his or her habit. As a result, such addicts are responsible for a substantial proportion--some 30 per cent.--of all crime, particularly theft and burglary. Those figures are too compelling to be ignored. The Government are committed to addressing the causes of crime, as well as the consequences. If we can make a positive impact on drug misuse, we can say with some confidence that we will make a positive impact on crime.
The White Paper, "Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain", set out our 10-year strategy for reducing the use of drugs throughout our society. The report published today describes progress during the first year of the strategy and sets targets for the short, medium and long term. I am grateful to Keith Hellawell and his deputy, Mike Trace, for the work that they have done in preparing the report.
There are some positive messages to be drawn from the report. For the first time, departments and agencies nationally and locally are being brought together to work in partnership towards joint performance targets. The focus is on results and on working together across departmental boundaries, which reflects the proposals that we laid out in the modernising government White Paper.
The proposals in the annual report and plan will help us to meet the objectives that we agreed in the public service agreement on drugs. The agreement binds all relevant Departments to work together to deliver a reduction in the proportion of people under 25 who misuse illegal drugs; a reduction in the level of reoffending by drugs-misusing offenders; an increase in the participation of problem drug misusers, including prisoners, in drug treatment programmes which have a positive impact on health and in reducing crime; and a reduction in the access to drugs for young people.
Between now and 2002, all departmental and agency resources and activities against drugs will be increasingly redirected towards those and associated targets, as set out in the national plan. Departments have been allocated an additional £217 million for targeted anti-drugs activities. Existing resources in the criminal justice system will be progressively moved from dealing with the consequences of drug-related offences to programmes that enable offenders to tackle their drug problems.
There will, however, be no let up in our determination to pursue drug dealers. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has introduced a seven-year minimum sentence for third time, class A drug traffickers and we will continue to give the police every support in targeting such offenders.
Drug action teams will have a crucial role in the implementation of the strategy. During the past 12 months, drug action teams undertook a comprehensive planning process, which shows that a great deal of good work is already under way. I pay tribute to much excellent work done at local level by both the public and voluntary sectors. Their contribution is essential to our success. However, we must ensure that they have the support they need to build on that work. That is why we have created the drug prevention advisory service, which will provide drug action teams with an invaluable source of advice and support.
There is a regrettable shortage of reliable information about drug use, so we are putting in place better information systems to show more definitively what the drugs problems are, what works best against them and what is cost-effective. We shall spend an extra £6 million over the next three years to help to fund a major new research programme to establish accurate baselines.
Additional support for the strategy and its objectives will be provided by partnership with the private sector and by channelling the assets seized from convicted drugs traffickers back into action against them and their crimes. I am pleased to be able to announce that £3 million will be available from that source in 1999-2000, which is to be increased in future years. The illegal gains of drug dealers will be used to tackle the problems that they generate.
In line with our commitment under the public service agreement, the national plan sets key performance targets for the medium and long term. For young people, we aim to reduce the proportion of people under 25 reporting use of illegal drugs in the past month and the previous year substantially, and to reduce the proportion of young people using the drugs which cause the greatest harm--heroin and cocaine--by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008.
In our communities, we will reduce the level of repeat offending among drug misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008. In the treatment sector, we will increase the participation of problem drug misusers, including prisoners, in drug treatment programmes, which have a positive impact on health and crime, by 66 per cent. by 2005 and by 100 per cent. by 2008.
In seeking to limit availability, our aim is to reduce access to all drugs among young people under 25 significantly, and to reduce access to the drugs that cause the greatest harm--heroin and cocaine--by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008. Those medium and long-term targets link directly with the strategy's vision of shifting the emphasis from dealing with the consequences of drug misuse to prevention of that misuse. They are supported by a range of shorter-term targets for the next year and the next three years.
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