Speeches by Sackman.

“The other feedback that I have heard from victims and representative groups is around the damaging effect that the listing of floating trials can have on victims. This has been a constant theme. Floating trials, which lead to uncertainty and last-minute adjournments, can compound the agony and tension involved in givin…”

“I am going to make some progress. As I said, and as I discussed with my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North, I assure the Committee that the principle behind this proposal is recognised by the Government. I agree with my hon. Friend on her assessment of what is needed: swifter justice and prioritisation so that…”

“Let me say something about new clause 6 and the question of prioritisation. I absolutely sympathise with the intent of the new clause, and agree with points that everybody has made about the fact that victims of rape and sexual violence currently wait far too long for justice. The delays in this area are worse than in …”

“The measures in the Bill, combined with our investment in courts and uncapped sitting days, the major new recruitment drive for judges, and the investment in legal aid and other efficiencies, will ensure that victims of all offence types have a shorter wait for justice. But we need to respect the function of the judici…”

“It is clear that the establishment of specialist courts does not require legislation. It is important that we get this right so it represents a step change for victims. Let me be clear: specialist courts for sexual offences or any other type of crime are not an alternative to the reform measures in the Bill, because th…”

“”

“I do have confidence in the changes. Look at the levers in the Government’s gift: we can get more money for the system—tick. We can try to drive performance and govern the system to be more efficient—we are doing everything we can, but I refuse to be over-optimistic about that. The other lever I can pull is reform, bas…”

“The Committee will not be surprised to hear that the Government do not support a sunset clause, for two primary reasons. First, these reforms address a challenge in our system that not only is acute—because of the crisis, which we inherited from the previous Government, that has been allowed to run out of control—but h…”

“I do not accept that the vast majority of the changes we are introducing are unprecedented; in the main, we are shifting caseload from the Crown court to the magistrates court, and we already have a way of testing that. Trials for either-way offences, some of which are already retained in the magistrates court, give us…”

“I will take one short intervention.”

“Committee rose.”

“That the Committee has considered the draft First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees (Amendment) Order 2026.”

“Resolved,”

“I was just coming to that. The cost of delivering the service that the property tribunal provides far exceeds the fees we are talking about today, and that cost is borne by the taxpayer. We think that it is right and fair that, provided that fees are set at a level that does not impede access to justice, we recover som…”

“I will endeavour to answer as many of the right hon. Gentleman’s questions as possible. Any that I do not answer—”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees (Amendment) Order 2026. This instrument, which was laid before the House on 19 March, marks the first stage of a wider programme of reform to introduce a fairer, more consistent and more sustainable fees framework in …”

“I am familiar with the argument raised by the Master of the Rolls; we discussed it during the passage of the Renters’ Rights Act, and I have discussed it with the relevant Minister. That is the subject of a whole series of policy choices that have been made to strike an appropriate balance between the rights of tenants…”

“That was exactly what I was going to suggest: I shall write to the right hon. Gentleman. I will write to him on his first question, which was about RDEL and the exact running costs of the property chamber. We expect an increase in the volume of receipts that the property chamber will take, and some work is being done i…”

“Indeed. The other thing to say—this relates to both sets of questions—is that the new Renters’ Rights Act introduces a series of new rights that we want people to take advantage of. By the way, that is done not just in the purview of the tribunal system but in what some academics have called the shadow of the law. The …”

“We think that changing the structure of the decision-making process such that it does not start with that presumption will lead to improvements in outcomes. It is not the only thing; of course it is not. The hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle made an interesting suggestion about structured reasoning through the welfare…”