Speeches by Farnsworth.

“I want to go back to the use of AI and automation. You have just talked about that within the service. In your questionnaire response, you also talked about the future operating model embedding automation, AI and modern digital tools. I wondered how you might go about bringing that operating model into use.”

“Do the complaints on conveyancing tend to be more about communication and fees, rather than whether the advice was correct or not? Or would that not come to you?”

“I think it will be quick. I wanted to return to the increased demand and the increasing complaints. Conveyancing has been identified as a big area where that has increased. Are you aware of any work that has gone into looking at the reasoning behind that, and whether there is any correlation with the increased number o…”

“Good morning. I am Linsey Farnsworth, Member of Parliament for Amber Valley. I was a Crown prosecutor before entering Parliament. My declaration is on the register, but it is relevant for today that I am the co-chair of the APPG on legal and constitutional affairs and a member of the APPG on access to justice.”

“On that point, will my hon. Friend give way?”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I thank all those people working in the criminal justice system who, frankly, have been propping up the system with the generosity of their time, working extra hours over and above, and giving everything. They have propped up the criminal justice system in that way for years.…”

“On appeals against magistrates’ rulings, is the shadow Minister aware—as I am, through my experience—that appeals are essentially a retrial in the magistrates court, and that many appeals are successful simply because the victim cannot face giving evidence for a second time and being retraumatised? Defendants will use …”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that this is about getting justice to victims, which defendants game the system to prevent. Arguments against the Crown court bench division seem to presuppose some measure of unfairness of having a single judge deciding guilt or innocence, but district judges have sat alone in th…”

“Anyone who has worked on the frontline of the criminal justice system knows that the Crown court crisis has been years in the making. Underfunding, austerity, covid and the changing nature of crime, with cases becoming increasingly complex and evidential volumes growing exponentially, have compounded the issue. The cha…”

“T8. I was pleased to see that the schools White Paper outlines significant reforms to support children with special educational needs and disabilities. Will the Minister outline how the Department is working with colleagues in the Department for Education to ensure that efforts to tackle the NEETS crisis—those not in e…”

“I am delighted that the Secretary of State is planning to visit the David Nieper Academy in Alfreton later this year. The school recently achieved zero NEETs at age 18 for the second year running by working closely with local industry and teaching employability skills. Local initiatives such as that should be complemen…”

“12. What steps he is taking to support young people into employment, education or training.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Can you see a pathway to the testing, trialling and scale?”

“My next question is to Dr Lisa Wintersteiger, and it relates to service delivery models. How are organisations that provide legal advice and low-cost legal representation innovating their service delivery models?”

“It is also a barrier to access to justice when there are backlogs.”

“The circumstance that you have just described clearly sounds to me like a barrier to access to justice, as well as a bit of a blocker for the efficiency of the court.”

“Dr Drake, you mentioned small claims litigation earlier, and I want to give you the opportunity to speak a little bit more about that, particularly in the context of the impact of regulation on access to justice. I am aware that you have previously argued that removing small claims track litigation as a reserved legal …”

“Good afternoon. My name is Linsey Farnsworth. I am the Member of Parliament for Amber Valley, and a former Crown prosecutor. I am the co-chair of the APPG on legal and constitutional affairs, a member of the access to justice APPG, and everything else is as per the register.”