Speeches by Juss.

“Is that 87% in green cases?”

“Seventy-five per cent?”

“Eighty-seven per cent in red cases.”

“There is a possibility that Palestine Action will appeal to the Supreme Court. What are you doing in the meantime?”

“Good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I am a solicitor, but not practising at the moment. I am a member of the GMB trade union central executive council, and a member and officer of various APPGs. For the purposes of today’s session, my wife is a senior Crown prosecutor in…”

“Mr Parkinson, when you were last before the Committee in November 2024, you said that timeliness is a core CPS metric. You mentioned timeliness this afternoon as well. Can you confirm why custody time limits are such an important indicator of CPS performance?”

“Can I ask you about Palestine Action? You will be aware that earlier this month the Court of Appeal ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action was lawful. As of December 2025, there were a huge number of arrests made—2,779 under the Terrorism Act—that were linked to Palestine Action, and there were 412 charging de…”

“Right.”

“I have had constituents where there has been a hate crime and they have been chasing me because no charge has been brought and there has been a delay, so I feel that is a step in the right direction. I have one final question. You mentioned that your illustrious predecessor, Lord Macdonald KC, delivered his independent…”

“It is a significant improvement from 67.3% to 87%. I also take it that in meeting custody time limits and dealing with backlogs in general there needs to be a good relationship between the CPS and the police. Have any initiatives been taken to foster and encourage better relationships between the CPS and the police?”

“Although I support the Government’s reform of the justice system to tackle the courts backlog, it is clear that more cases will be going to the magistrates court. Estimates suggest that will require the recruitment of an additional 6,000 to 7,000 magistrates by 2029, but previous attempts to increase their numbers have…”

“Do you have a figure as to the number or percentage of cases that you proceed with to prosecution in relation to the referrals that you have?”

“Thank you. Back in 2024, you described the CPS’s response to the riots in Southport as swift and unambiguous. Sadly, we had riots in Southampton as well, where 13 individuals were sentenced 10 days after the disorder. How did the Southport experience influence your subsequent decisions? How were you able to do so well …”

“When you were last here, you also mentioned that custody time limits were met in 67.3% of red cases, which I understand are the more serious cases, and in 61.6% of green cases.”

“Not long ago, I had a meeting with a group of barristers at Wolverhampton Crown court. They were grateful to the Government for uncapping the number of hearing days and trial dates, which they said had made a significant difference to the court backlogs, but they also raised the problem of prisoners not arriving in cou…”

“Yesterday, during Women and Equalities questions, the Minister referred to the protection of the rights of trans people provided by the Supreme Court judgment, but I have constituents contacting me about their fear of using public toilet facilities when no gender-neutral toilets are available. They include one constitu…”

“The hon. Member is making an important speech. Climate change is one of those issues that my constituents contact me about all the time, particularly my young constituents. This is something that really bothers them as much as it does us. Does she agree that climate change is something we are experiencing now—we know t…”

“Would it be fair to say that you would refer a case to the Court of Appeal if you considered the sentence in all the circumstances to be unreasonable? Would that be another way of describing the particular situation?”

“As you say, the extension applies only to victims and bereaved families.”

“In my constituency, fly-tipping remains a significant problem for local communities. Waste is dumped, and the council acts properly to remove the waste but it comes back again. As has been mentioned, the problem is even more challenging when waste is dumped on private land, and the landowners have to endure the cost bu…”