Speeches by Farnsworth.

“I am in the fortunate position of being the neighbouring MP, so you may well be familiar with the school I mention, which is just down the road from your constituency. Will you commend Langley Mill academy for its great work to raise awareness among young people of British values and our voting system, and sadly for pu…”

“Can I bring it back to an area that is particularly important to me as the mission delivery champion for safer streets but, more importantly, to my constituents in Amber Valley? That is the mission to make our streets safer and the ambitious target—we have already talked about ambitious Government policy—to halve viole…”

“Thank you. Warinder is going to ask you some more questions.”

“You will not be surprised to learn that I am going to take you through some questions relating to the Crown Prosecution Service and your superintendence of that. The first thing I want to ask about is the framework agreement between the Law Officers and the Director of Public Prosecutions. My understanding is that that…”

“Do you have a timescale in mind for when you would like that framework to be available to the public?”

“Thank you.”

“As a former prosecutor, disclosure always triggers some feelings. You are absolutely right. I worked in the CPS in the complex casework unit and the organised crime division in my time, which have big cases where the unused material that is not part of the evidence but has to be reviewed for disclosure to the defence w…”

“That is useful, thank you. Moving on to one of our favourite topics on this Committee, which is the backlog of cases in the courts, particularly in the Crown court, I can attest to the fact that the Crown Prosecution Service would collapse if it was not for the good will and commitment of its staff. That has been the c…”

“Moving back to fees, when the Director of Public Prosecutions gave his evidence to the Committee, he made some comments about defence barristers and the current fee structure, and how that is set up and may well lead to late guilty pleas because the fee structure is such that that is an attractive way of doing business…”

“Did you receive any complaints about the director’s comments into your office?”

“I am Linsey Farnsworth, the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. My interests are as per the register. Of relevance to today’s hearing, I am a non-practising solicitor, formerly with the Crown Prosecution Service, a member of various unions, including the FDA, and a national mission delivery champion for the safer st…”

“Thank you. I met the FDA and the Crown Prosecution Service in a joint meeting last week. The FDA has recently produced a report about the CPS’s role in RASSO work and halving violence against women and girls. I would welcome the opportunity to come and see you to discuss it in more detail, because there is quite a lot …”

“I commend the Chancellor for her visit to advocate for our country’s best interests, but does she agree that Chinese companies must not provide any support to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine?”

“That sounds reassuring, so thank you for the work that you have done on that. I want to move to the magistrates court backlog, which I think, if I may say so, gets discussed a little bit less, but I am conscious that the Government have extended magistrates’ sentencing powers. How many additional cases can the magistra…”

“Lord Chancellor, you are on record as saying that justice delayed is justice denied. I certainly agree with that. As my colleague said, the Committee is aware that cases are now being listed to take place in 2027. In the King’s Speech, the Government committed to fast-tracking rape cases, but that is against a backdrop…”

“That brings me nicely to my last question, which is about the impact that extending the sentencing powers for magistrates has had. Is there any evidence yet that it has had an impact on the remand population, on court sitting days and/or on prison places?”

“I want to go back to the prison population for a moment, in particular in relation to foreign national offenders in our prisons. How is the Department approaching the deportation of foreign national offenders in the context of addressing the prison capacity issues that we face?”

“Watch this space then.”

“You mentioned the current statistic of just over 73,000 cases in the Crown court backlog. I think that was increased when the official statistics came out. Originally, it was just over 67,500. You said that you are expecting the Crown court backlog to increase this year. How will the Department ensure that there aren’t…”

“I am a non-practising solicitor, formerly of the Crown Prosecution Service. My declaration of interests is on the register, but of note is that I am the mission delivery champion for the Safer Streets Mission.”