Westminster update: new…
Your weekly update from the Law Society’s public affairs team on all the latest developments and debates in Parliament and across Whitehall.
Read our response to the independent review of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s handling of the Axiom Ince fallout, commissioned by the Legal Services Board, which reveals a catalogue of errors and missed opportunities on the part of the SRA.
On Saturday 3 November, the Conservative leadership race reached its conclusion.
Kemi Badenoch beat rival Robert Jenrick to become the party’s new leader.
Badenoch is the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK and the fourth female leader of the Conservative Party.
Badenoch went on to appoint her new shadow cabinet in the last week, bringing in:
Leadership race rival and solicitor Robert Jenrick was given the portfolio of shadow justice secretary, while Lord Wolfson has been named shadow attorney general.
Other appointments included:
Kieran Mullan has been appointed as a junior shadow justice minister, while solicitor Helen Grant will be Lord Wolfson’s deputy as shadow solicitor general.
The shadow cabinet now contains a mix of Badenoch allies and supporters of other leadership candidates, with an equal mix of experience.
They now face the challenge of establishing themselves as an effective opposition to the Labour government in parliament.
Justice questions on 5 November saw ministers:
Responding to questions from the chair of the Justice Select Committee Andy Slaughter and Labour MP Warinder Juss – justice minister Heidi Alexander said the government would shortly be publishing its response to the “crime lower” consultation on duty solicitor fees and would be following this up with a response to our successful judicial review on criminal legal aid fees.
We are continuing to work with ministers to push for a response to the judicial review and for criminal legal aid to be given the investment it needs.
Robert Jenrick, the newly appointed shadow lord chancellor, used his questions to ask how many domestic abusers and sex offenders had gone on to reoffend following the prisoner early release scheme.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones criticised Jenrick for a “short memory” and noted there had been no exceptions for public protection under the last government’s release scheme, while Labour had not allowed the release of serious sexual and domestic abuse offenders.
Finally, MPs raised the significant backlog in the Crown Court and asked what ministers are doing to address this.
Alexander said the government had increased sitting days by 500 and noted capital spending, which would help address court repair issues, had been increased at the budget.
The long anticipated Mental Health Bill finally had its first reading in the House of Lords on Wednesday 6 November.
The bill contains a number of amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983 which look to strengthen the voice of patients subject to the act.
The bill’s explanatory notes state that the bill will add statutory weight to patients’ rights to be involved in planning for their care and choices regarding the treatment they receive.
The reforms will increase the scrutiny of detention to ensure it is only used when and as long, as necessary.
The bill also seeks to limit the use of the act to detain people with a learning disability and autistic people.
We welcome the bill’s publication, having lobbied for it for several years and will scrutinise the bill to advise if and where, improvements can be made.
We worked closely with the draft Mental Health Bill Committee last year to discuss the importance of self-advocacy and informed choices and we hope the committee’s report has been taken into consideration in this new bill.
We are working closely with MPs and peers to influence a number of bills before parliament:
As the dust settles on the first Labour budget for 14 years, discover what it means for your firms and practice.
We touch on Ministry of Justice spending, business rates relief, inheritance tax and more.