Speeches by Juss.

“My hon. Friend makes a valid point, and I agree. There will be cases where a student is vulnerable and action needs to be taken, but where that student may not have been diagnosed with a disability. It does not feel fair that in those circumstances the university should not take any steps to deal with the student’s vul…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing this important debate. Currently, there is no general duty on universities to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to adult students. With much of the University of W…”

“And diversity, yes. That is why I make that suggestion, but I would like to hear from the rest of the panel.”

“I can understand why the public might think that they would like to be tried by their peers. Brian Leveson proposed that the Crown court bench division would constitute a judge sitting alongside two magistrates, without a jury. He said that would “maintain fair trial standards”. He said it would bring in “the community…”

“Good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I hold a current practising certificate—I am a solicitor but not practising—and I am a member of the GMB trade union executive council, as well as being a member of various APPGs.”

“I am really sorry to hear the case of the hon. Lady’s constituent. When I first raised this issue in the House last May, I mentioned that over the previous 10 years one student had taken their own life every four days in England and Wales. When Natasha took her life in April 2018, she was at least the 10th student to h…”

“I am not trying to oversimplify the situation, but for cases where we currently have a jury trial, the jury decides the facts of the case and the judge advises on points of law. If these cases go to the Crown court bench division, how do you think that will change the role of the judge? Do you think we are moving away …”

“Does my hon. Friend find it surprising, as I do, that whereas there are duties of care on workplaces, prisons, hospitals and colleges, and owed by manufacturers to consumers, no duty of care is owed by universities to students?”

“The Opposition are keen to rely on Magna Carta to defend jury trials, but Magna Carta also states that justice should not be delayed. Sir Brian Leveson reported that jury trials are taking twice as long as they did in 2000 because criminal cases are now much more complex and can involve thousands of pages of electronic…”

“Good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. Relevant to today’s session is the fact that before becoming an MP I worked as a personal injury and clinical negligence solicitor for Thompsons, a trade union law practice. I am also an executive council member of the GMB trade union …”

“Ms Brimelow, you already confirmed that the exceptional case funding scheme is not effective in securing access to justice so I will just take that as an answer, unless you have anything else to say.”

“To a large extent you have already answered the questions that I was going to ask you, and I welcome the comments that you have all made about what you consider to be access to justice. How does the present legal aid scheme affect providers and service users, and how does it impact early intervention and the cost to go…”

“Following on from what you said, Mr Miller, would I be correct in thinking that, given the number of litigants in person and the delays that occur with judges having to take extra time to help them, if they had proper legal representation it would take less time to deal with those cases, so ultimately it would help to …”

“Have you looked at any other jurisdictions? Do we have something to learn from the way their legal aid systems work?”

“So how does that affect those private family law cases where they just cannot get legal aid?”

“Those six hours are not remunerated?”

“Back to me on the financial viability of firms. We have spoken a lot about litigants in person. You already commented on the effect that the current legal aid system has on the financial sustainability of firms and the loss-making work that firms have to do. I am really glad, Ms Brimelow, that you made the comment in a…”

“Before the others come in, I may be wrong but my understanding is that private family law cases are not included unless they involve an element of domestic violence.”

“I have a final question. Would your view be either to get rid of fixed costs or just increase the levels of the range on which fixed costs are payable? Mr Miller, as you rightly pointed out, cases that ought to be settled—and I have heard this from clinical negligence lawyers—are not settling because the defendant take…”

“I thank the Minister for his statement and for all the work that he has been doing on these issues. What reason has the Israeli Government given for stopping NGOs operating in Gaza? If it is clear, as has been mentioned by other Members, that it is a deliberate act of cruelty to prevent healthcare and aid going into Ga…”