Speeches by Farnsworth.

“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?”

“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 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…”

“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.”

“Good afternoon. I am Linsey Farnsworth. I am a non-practising solicitor, formerly of the Crown Prosecution Service, and a member of a number of unions, including the FDA.”

“I entirely agree with my hon. Friend about the proportionality of the Bill, which we discussed in Committee. The word “burden” has been used a great deal this afternoon. In his evidence to the Committee, Andy Burnham said: “I just think that we cannot talk ourselves into a sort of thing where it is all too big a burden…”

“The frustrations that the hon. and learned Member is talking about are surely a good argument for what the Government are trying to do in resetting the relationship between the UK and the EU. Therefore, this Bill would only undermine the UK’s credibility in doing that with our international partners. Does he agree that…”

“But the operational relationships are important.”

“That is now a roving post.”

“There used to be two in Paris, didn’t there?”

“I thought the Operation Invigor post was now a roving post.”

“The upstream suppliers.”

“Is it important for them to travel to countries overseas?”

“I’m not sure we would have been arguing on that point, but it is useful to know that it is being looked at. The CPS annual report talks about the vacancy rate in the CPS as 6.3% among senior Crown prosecutors in 2023-24. What steps are you taking to encourage more experienced prosecutors to progress their career at the…”

“Didn’t those chaser tasks come off the back of a target that you had—we had, when I was there—for finalisation of cases in a timely way? The chasing had to be done; otherwise, you could not finalise the case within the targeted time limit. I may be misremembering and I apologise if I am.”