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I have just set out the work that we are doing on speeding up justice. One of the particular reasons that we are looking at, for example, changes in the jurisdiction of the courts, as well as more out-of-court disposals for lower level offences, is to ensure that court time at the High Court is reserved for the most…
There is a long-standing and ongoing funding challenge for Justice, which is well recognised by everyone in the House because I repeat it frequently enough. It will undoubtedly impact on what we can deliver. The DOJ's share of the Northern Ireland block grant has fallen continually over the past 14 years, from just…
I thank the Minister for her answer. Will she provide an assessment of the impact that budgetary pressures are having on justice system transformation?
The programme is an example of cross-justice collaboration to try to resolve what is a key issue. The Criminal Justice Board comprises all the senior leaders in the justice system, and they have prioritised that programme of work. It takes a whole-system approach; focuses on reducing avoidable delay, reducing demand,…
The money was set aside and ring-fenced at the beginning when I was budgeting, which is why, at the beginning, I had quite limited budgetary concerns. I have had to take some fairly difficult decisions to live within the budget. My overspend at the moment is pretty much entirely with the PSNI. That is where the…
I thank the Minister for her answer. I note from her answer that, unlike the other Departments, your Department set aside 3.5%. Is that included in the £23 million overspend, or is that money still protected? When are officers likely to know the outcome of the pay rise?
Like the Department of Health and the Department of Education, the Department of Justice has a projected overspend. There is a deficit of around £23 million for the PSNI. Until we have a plan in place to deal with that, a pay rise has been deemed unaffordable, although it has been approved in a value-for-money…
The County Court rules committee has proposed a 23% increase to fees under the County Court scale to address inflation's eroding their value since 2017. The proposed amendments have undergone consultation, economic appraisal and policy screening, with no anticipated impact. The draft rules are subject to negative…
I thank the Minister for that update. Can she provide a further update on the progress in increasing the fees that are payable under the County Court scale?
I remain committed to delivering the uplift to remuneration that I set out in the Chamber in December last year. Officials across the Department are continuing to progress the business case with the Department of Finance that covers the wider enabling access to justice programme, not just the increase in legal aid…
The Online Safety Act is but one of the tools available, and, obviously, my Department has made representations to the Home Office, which leads on communications and telecommunications because it is a reserved matter. We continue to feed in our concerns in that space. Through the tackling paramilitarism programme, we…
I thank the Minister for that. I agree that sentencing is one part of it. Minister, you mentioned the radicalising of individuals. Could you elaborate on how you see your Department working, perhaps with other UK Departments, to stymie the influence particularly of social media on radicalising people who, previously,…
There are two elements to it. The degree to which sentencing is a true deterrent is questionable, because most people who commit crime never consider being caught. Many of them do things on the spur of the moment without giving any due regard to what the outcome for them might be, and many are completely reckless with…
That is difficult, because the bulletin looks only at reported incidents and reported crimes, yet we all know that there will be instances in which those crimes are not reported. Many victims, for good reason, will choose not to present to the PSNI. Although I always encourage people to report crime, I understand the…
Like others, I send my best to the Minister and her husband following the absolutely appalling attack outside their home. I offer my continued support to her for her strong work on the abuse of elected representatives, particularly female ones. Minister, in light of the figures, some support groups recently expressed…
The most recent PSNI bulletin, which was published on 28 August, shows that, in the 12 months up until 30 June 2025, 29,740 domestic abuse incidents and 18,246 domestic abuse crimes were recorded. That represents decreases of almost 7% and 5·5% respectively on the previous year. Although those reductions may appear…
I understand the Member's point, because it has been raised with me before. We have to go back to what the purpose of the compensation scheme is, however. It was introduced at a time when businesses and individuals were often unable to get insurance because of the level of property damage that was being inflicted…
I echo the comments of others, Minister, by saying that our thoughts are with you. What happened last week was totally disgraceful and unacceptable. Minister, in the past 18 months, several people whom I represent in my constituency have been victims of a confirmed hate crime. Their property has been damaged, and the…
The criminal damage compensation scheme provides important financial support to victims where there has been physical damage to a property or a vehicle in Northern Ireland and where it can be shown that the damage was caused unlawfully, maliciously or wantonly by an unlawful assembly of three or more people or…
Intersectionality forms part of the hate-crime legislation that we hope to bring forward, and there will be aggravating factors where a hate-crime motive for the signalling offence can be proven. We will also prosecute those as stand-alone offences so that, if a hate-crime motivation cannot be proven, a person can…
Minister, it goes without saying that I and my party stand in solidarity with you. Democracy means you being robustly held to account in the Chamber, and you are more than able to deal with that. However, what happened was contemptible. A family home is sacrosanct, so we stand in solidarity with you. In relation to…
Damaging street signs in general is one of the most petty and childish acts that a person can undertake. If you cannot drive past a sign that you do not like without feeling the need to take an angle grinder or a bucket of paint to it, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself. I will not be providing any…
It was interesting to hear the Minister speak about the tightness of resources in the context of what we have heard in the past day about the PSNI opening a hate-crime investigation into damage to a sign at Shandon Park. Can we be assured that there will now be investigations into any similar damage to signs across…
The PSNI's assessment is that, whilst there are individuals who are connected to existing paramilitary organisations and are engaged and active in a number of those protests, there is less evidence to substantiate any claim that those organisations are orchestrating or organising those protests. In addition to the…