Speeches by Mahmood.

“Yes, we are the Government of the day. Yes, we control the primary legislation agenda. It would not have been possible, on entering office and realising that I needed to act straight away, to pull in a primary legislation mechanism that changes the law and then bring forward SIs that seek to do emergency release. As yo…”

“I will certainly consider any further proposals, and the Government will also respond to the sentencing review, which has specifically been asked to look at the treatment under our sentencing framework of offences of violence against women and girls. In a way, that could be one solution if the sentencing review was not…”

“There are two things. We were moving at pace. If you bring in a measure with no exclusions at all, that is the fastest way to move at pace because you don’t have to worry about what you have excluded. You don’t have to do a check of what you have not excluded. That was one of the options on the table. I wanted to make …”

“There are two things; I will deal with the murder point in a moment. On the other offences—this is actually a bit of a bugbear of mine, and maybe of some other former lawyers on this Committee—Parliament regularly creates new offences that are not dissimilar to other offences that are already on the statute book. Usual…”

“They will have been legally released, so I could not go back and apply a standard to them that did not apply when they were being released. I believe the total number is around 60. That would be the difference between the older, outdated legislation and those who have been excluded under the new. It is 60, but they hav…”

“There is nothing, obviously, on murder. I would have to go back, have a look and write to the Committee with an update on that.”

“The home detention curfew is a policy that has been in place coming up to about 25 years. It is a well-used mechanism that already exists. The previous Conservative Administration extended it a number of times, quite significantly. I recognise that this is a further significant extension. My first aim is to ensure that…”

“This is a point I have just made in my previous answer. On the sitting days, when it comes to funding, there is the cost of running the court, judicial salaries and salaries of other staff running the building, and then there is the consequential cost of legal aid. The HMCTS element of the cost for the 500 came from wi…”

“Yes, I can set out a bit about the history of what I inherited when I came in, conscious that I am speaking for a process that I was not a part of. The agreement on 106,000 was reached between the previous Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice, concluding the concordat process in the usual way, although the Commit…”

“It is only possible to give extra money if extra money is available. In addition to my constitutional obligations to the Crown court, I am sure the Committee will understand that I have a wider set of responsibilities, one of which is to make sure that we stick within the budget that we have been given. For 2024-25, wh…”

“It is not my cap, Ms Munt. For clarity for the Committee, the cap was set before I became Lord Chancellor at 106,000.”

“It is a cap I have inherited and there is not the funding, and has not been, to extend it, except of course—we may come on to this—the decision on the extra 2,000. There are small fluctuations in the budget, which we monitor on a monthly basis to see that our projections are what they need to be. I have given a very cl…”

“The first thing to say is that it is important to make sure we are not in a position where there is over-listing again to the agreed allocation. It is not for me to litigate everything that was said and done prior to 5 July. Clearly, we have had an issue. I suspect it has a lot to do with the timing when that agreement…”

“Next year’s concordat. The process for next year’s concordat has already begun. There is a big data and modelling phase, and then we move into negotiation with HMCTS. The board are involved, and me and the Lady Chief Justice. It is already under way.”

“I would like, and am pushing from my side of the system, a resolution by the end of January or beginning of February next year.”

“I am absolutely looking at every part of the process, given where we were in the year and the necessity of starting the next process and getting the agreed allocation for 2025-26. What I have committed to on change is getting it done quicker, so that we do not have the issue around delay and possible over-listing, and …”

“We have to conclude the 2025-26 one more quickly than would allow for a proper look at—”

“Yes, that is more urgent. As I say, my steer to the system and everything that I am pushing is that I would like this concluded by the end of January or beginning of February next year. I would want to be more transparent on that. Then I would want to think very carefully about what the next one looks like.”

“There is a spending review process as well, which might helpfully align with anything that we might want to say on a multi-year basis. I don’t want to get ahead of that. I just assure the Committee that it is something I am looking at. I will happily return to—”

“Absolutely. That is why I made it very clear to the Department, when I entered in July, that for 2024-25 I wanted any change that was positive in terms of headroom, to make sure that I was maximising what I could achieve in the Crown court. I am very conscious, as a constituency Member of Parliament, and I know many pe…”