The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (“MCA 2005”) provides a statutory framework to empower and protect people who may lack capacity to make some decisions for themselves. The Public Guardian does this by registering Lasting Powers of Attorneys (LPA) and Enduring Powers of Attorneys (EPA), supervising Deputies appointed by the Court of Protection (the Court), and investigating the ways Attorneys and Deputies exercise their powers.
The digital transformation...More
This consultation relates to the methodology to be used by the Lord Chancellor and his counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland in independently setting the discount rate for personal injury damages in their respective jurisdictions.
The consultation is aimed at people and organisations with an interest in personal injury claims and damages in the UK.
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This consultation paper invites views from interested parties on the draft Code of Practice for Adult Conditional Cautions under Part 3 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The Code of Practice makes provision for conditional cautions as a means of dealing with adult offenders in certain circumstances as an alternative to prosecution. It has been revised to reflect the changes to conditional cautions made by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. It also sets out in...More
This consultation paper invites views from interested parties on the draft Code of Practice for Youth Conditional Cautions under Section 48 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (that amends the Crime and Disorder Act 1998).Currently youth conditional cautions are only available for 16 and 17 year olds in five pilot areas.
The Code of Practice makes provision for youth conditional cautions as a means of dealing with young offenders in certain circumstances as an alternative to...More
The youth remand provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 received Royal Assent on 1 May 2012 and allows for local authorities to be given greater financial responsibility for secure remand.
In this consultation paper the Ministry of Justice and the Youth Justice Board set out their proposals:
for allocating new burdens funding to local authorities in England & Wales in relation to remands to youth detention accommodation;
for recovery...More
We are seeking your views on the draft Welsh language scheme for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The scheme sets out how NOMS will ensure that the public and Welsh-speaking prisoners have access to appropriate services in Welsh.
Setting out exactly what is required in terms of the prison estate is challenging - for example, we have a number of Welsh speakers who are not in Welsh prisons. We would particularly welcome views on how we might better approach the Prison...More
Triennial Review programme
The Government’s response to the Public Administration Select Committee report ‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango state’ sets out the plans for reforming public bodies. It includes new Triennial Review requirements for Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB).
Triennial Reviews are expected to take between 3 – 6 months and are carried out by the Sponsor Department of the respective bodies. The Ministry of Justice is the sponsor Department for...More
This consultation invites views on the fees for applications for authorisation and annual fees for the regulation year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 and initial views on a fees framework for complaints handling by the Legal Ombudsman.
This consultation is primarily aimed at persons authorised to provide regulated claims management services in England & Wales under the Compensation Act 2006 and those businesses and individuals contemplating making an application for authorisation.
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The Government is seeking views on a package of measures to stem the growth in applications for judicial reviews. The measures aim to tackle the burden that this growth has placed on stretched public services whilst protecting access to justice and the rule of law. The engagement exercise seeks views on proposals in three key areas; reducing the time limits for bringing a judicial review relating to procurement or planning, bringing them into line with the appeal timetable which already...More
The consultation is aimed at anyone who has an interest in immigration, asylum and nationality matters or who would be affected by the removal of legal aid for most non-detention immigration appeals when the relevant provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 comes into force in April 2013.
We currently utilise the fact that legal aid solicitors establish whether or not appellants meet the financial eligibility criteria for legal aid and if they do and...More
The Government’s response to the Public Administration Select Committee report ‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango state’ sets out the plans for reforming public bodies. It includes new Triennial Review requirements for Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB).
Triennial Reviews are expected to take between 3 – 6 months and are carried out by the Sponsor Department of the respective bodies. The Ministry of Justice is the sponsor Department for the Law Commission.
Functions of...More
The Government’s response to the Public Administration Select Committee report ‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango state’ sets out the plans for reforming public bodies. It includes new Triennial Review requirements for Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB).
Triennial Reviews are expected to take between 3 – 6 months and are carried out by the Sponsor Department of the respective bodies. The Ministry of Justice is the sponsor Department for the CICA.
Functions of the CICA...More
Triennial Review programme
The Government’s response to the Public Administration Select Committee report ‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango state’ sets out the plans for reforming public bodies. It includes new Triennial Review requirements for Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB).
Triennial Reviews are expected to take around six months and are carried out by the Sponsor Department of the respective bodies. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is the sponsor Department for the...More
‘Transforming Rehabilitation – a revolution in the way we manage offenders’ describes the Government’s proposals for reforming the delivery of offender services in the community to reduce reoffending rates whilst delivering improved value for money for the tax payer.
The proposals set out in the consultation paper include:
opening the majority of probation services to competition, with contracts to be awarded to providers who can deliver efficient, high quality services...More
The law governing contempt of court is vast. Several specialist textbooks devote hundreds of pages to the topic. The number of different contempt offences is equally huge. Our work is necessarily constrained by the time and resources available and it would not be possible to produce meaningful reform proposals for the entire law of contempt within those constraints. This consultation, therefore, addresses specific, practical problems that have been identified by our research and communication...More
The Government is committed to finding ways of tackling fraudulent and exaggerated whiplash claims, whilst ensuring that people who have suffered a genuine neck injury should continue to be able to get appropriate compensation. However, increases in claims for compensation relating to whiplash injuries are having a significant impact on the motor insurance premiums paid by individuals, families and businesses.
This consultation considers the creation of independent medical panels to...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
This section considers the offences of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault and sexual activity without consent.
The draft guidelines are for offenders who are over 18 years of age who have committed offences against victims who are over 13 years of age.
Offences committed against victims aged under 13 are addressed separately under the subject of child sex offences.
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This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
This section deals with offences concerning the commercial sexual exploitation of both adults and children. The offences that will be dealt with in this part of the consultation are:
Sexual exploitation of adults
Causing or inciting prostitution for gain
Controlling prostitution for gain
Keeping a brothel
Sexual exploitation of children
Paying for the sexual...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
The offences that will be dealt with in this part of the consultation are:
sexual activity with a child;
causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity;
sexual activity with a child family member;
inciting a child family member to engage in sexual activity;
engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child; and
causing a child to watch...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
This section covers offences relating to indecent images of children.
These offences relate to photographs (including moving images) and also images made, for example, on a computer but which look like real photographs.
The indecent images offences have a statutory maximum of five years’ imprisonment for possession of images and 10 years’ imprisonment for the distribution, taking or making...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
The offences that will be dealt with in this part of the consultation are:
exposure;
voyeurism;
sex with an adult relative; and
preparatory offences (administering a substance with intent; committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence; and trespass with the intent to commit a sexual offence).
This section will also highlight the approach that...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
This section considers offences where the victim is a child and the offender is over the age of 18.
The definition of ‘child’ varies between offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Generally, a child is defined as anyone under the age of 16 but there are some offences designed to give greater protection to those under the age of 13 and others where the definition of ‘child’ extends to...More
This is part of a wider consultation on a new guideline for sentencing sexual offences.
This section considers a number of offences designed to protect some of society’s most vulnerable adults who have a mental disorder. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 overhauled previous legislation in this area and introduced a number of new offences, for example, offences committed by care workers.
The offences against those with a mental disorder are split into three categories.
These are:
...More
This consultation paper sets out our proposals for implementing the coroner reforms in Part 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. It seeks views on proposed coroner investigation regulations, inquest rules, fee and allowance regulations, coroner areas, and statutory guidance for bereaved people.
This consultation is aimed at coroners, coroners' officers and other staff, bereaved people, voluntary organisations who help bereaved people, local authorities, and all those who have an...More
‘Transforming Youth Custody: Putting education at the heart of detention’ describes the Government’s plans for placing high quality education at the centre of youth custody. Plans to reform youth custody will see young people appropriately punished while at the same time learning to take responsibility for their actions and gaining the skills and qualifications they need to lead productive, law-abiding lives. The paper invites views and outline proposals from a wide range of...More
Introduction
Consultation on the draft Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Bill. This Bill gives effect to the recommendations in parts 2–7 of the Law Commission’s report, Intestacy and family provision claims on death.
The consultation is aimed at those with an interest in succession law, probate and private international law, in particular practitioners, professional groups and academics, in England and Wales.
Background
In 2008, the Law Commission began work...More
This consultation paper seeks views on two subjects relating to the setting of the discount rate under section 1 of the Damages Act 1996:
Whether the legal parameters defining how the rate is set should be changed.
Whether there is a case for encouraging the use of periodical payment orders instead of lump sum payments.
Please note: the consultation paper was revised on 5 March 2013 to correct an error in paragraph 79. This paragraph stated that there could be...More
This consultation sets out the Government’s plans to reform the Victims’ Code to give victims clearer entitlements from criminal justice agencies and to better tailor service to individual need. It is aimed at all criminal justice agencies, victims of crime and businesses.
The consultation paper covers:
Victims’ entitlements
Duties on criminal justice agencies
Specific entitlements for children and young people
The Victim Personal Statement
...More
This consultation paper sets our proposals for reform of the fee remissions system, which ensures that access to justice is maintained for those individuals on lower incomes who would otherwise have difficultly paying a fee to use court or tribunal services.
The objective of these reform proposals is to create a single system of fee remissions (waivers) for all fee paying courts and tribunals which is simple to use, more cost efficient and better targeted to those who need it the most.
...More