Liz Truss’ performance at her first Justice Committee Meeting yesterday has been heavily criticised in the press and social media.
When asking whether she would be introducing legislation in relation to prisons she said ‘we are looking at that’. She admitted the Government did not currently have a delivery plan for prison reform…and she was working on that.
In relation to access to justice, she said it was ‘something she was looking at’.
According to the Justice Minister, the present legal aid system is ‘generously funded’.
She was asked about court closures and the 70% reduction in employment tribunal claims since fees were introduced. It was put to her that to some this looks like a denial of access to justice. She responded by making references to looking at ‘digital’ ‘remote’ and ‘online’ without elaborating.
As regards the Ministry of Justice report on employment tribunal fees, she said it would be out ‘shortly’.
In June 2016 Dominic Raab, Under-Secretary of State for Justice, was asked by Angela Crawley MP when he expects the review of employment tribunal fees to be completed. His response was
“The review will report in due course, and it will assess how effective the introduction of employment tribunal fees has been in the achievement of the original objectives.”
On court fees, she was asked if it was proper to use these as a revenue raising. She said ‘we are still making decisions in this area’ but seemed unsure as to whether that was revenue funding for the court service or central government.
Liz Truss mentioned the employment tribunal fees review will be published ‘shortly’. An upgrade on ‘in due course’? #justicequestions
— John Hyde (@JohnHyde1982) 7 September 2016
@reedmj @JohnHyde1982 ‘In due course’ = longer than ‘In the near future’ = longer than ‘Shortly’ = longer than ‘In due course’ #ETfees
— Richard Dunstan (@Wonkypolicywonk) 7 September 2016
Couldn’t come too soon, really. #ETfees #accesstojustice https://t.co/TSdfVsgMLU
— Law Centres Network (@LawCentres) 7 September 2016
Watch the Justice Committee meeting on Parliament TV
What is the role of the Justice Secretary?
The .Gov website describes the role as follows:
“The Secretary of State has oversight of all of Ministry of Justice business and is responsible for making improvements to the criminal justice and prison system so that it better serves the public. Other responsibilities include:
functions of the Lord Chancellor
lead on prison and courts reforms
MOJ Transformation, including governance of Arm’s Length Bodies
resourcing of the department
Spending Review settlement, including income and fees
public appointments
judicial policy including pay, pensions and diversity
tackling extremism policy”
