Speeches by Juss.

“Q Since being elected as an MP, I have spent a lot of my time going into schools and engaging with young people, talking to them and having Q&A sessions. The level of engagement that they show is phenomenal, and the younger they are the more engaged they seem to be—even asking me questions like, “Why did you join t…”

“Mr Atkinson, following on from what you said, the Government are undertaking a programme to recruit many more magistrates. Do you think that will have some impact? They have also increased legal aid rates to encourage more criminal law advocates to enter the profession. What impact do you think that will have, if any?”

“That is right—in the equalities assessment.”

“Do you also believe that the removal of the right to elect to have trial by jury will have a disproportionate effect on black defendants, considering that 26% of black defendants in the past elected for trial in the Crown court, compared with only 15% of white defendants?”

“I assume that you agree, then, with what His Honour Nic Madge said to the Committee, that the reforms will have a “significant and disproportionately negative impact on Black and Black British complainants, witnesses and defendants”.”

“Mr Monteith, I have an idea what answers you will give to the questions I am about to ask. Do you think that Sir Brian Leveson’s independent review, on which the Bill’s proposals are based, takes sufficient account of the need for the criminal justice system to reflect the community it serves? Part 1 of the review stat…”

“Can I please ask you something following on from that? I assume you are therefore suggesting that, if we had more black judges, the risk of disproportionate outcomes would lessen. Why do we have only 1% of Crown court judges who are black? Why have we not increased the diversity there? What would you recommend the Judi…”

“My constituent Megan contacted me to say that she has escaped from her abusive former partner, who is supposed to be contributing less than £1 a day towards their child’s needs, but is not even managing that, although he does have influence over key decisions such as schooling and where they live. The domestic abuse is…”

“Good afternoon. I am Warinder Juss, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I am a solicitor, but not practising, and I am a member of various APPGs and of the GMB trade union central executive council.”

“My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. Does he agree that the whole reasoning of section 3 of the Compensation Act was because of the difficulty in identifying employers who exposed claimants to the particular fibres that caused mesothelioma, and that it is a huge anomaly that the section should apply to mesothe…”

“A constituent contacted my office to say that their daughter and her partner are caught in a student loans trap, where although they are both working and paying back their loans, they are hardly making any headway in reducing their debts. Apparently, of those with student loans, 76% feel trapped by a student loan balan…”

“There are high levels of sickness absence within the Legal Ombudsman’s department. What steps will you take to manage the wellbeing of staff there?”

“I understand it takes about 11 months for investigations to start. You have mentioned resources, but how is the Legal Ombudsman going to adapt to having to deal with the increase? Are there any other ideas you have as to how that might be managed?”

“When you say “societal”, do you mean that the customers, or clients, are becoming more aware of their rights?”

“You have already mentioned the high increase in the level of complaints. How are you going to manage that? Why do you think that we have had that increase? I would hate to think that legal providers are getting worse at doing their job. Why do you think we have such a massive increase in the number of complaints and ho…”

“You will also be aware that complaints to the Legal Ombudsman are higher than ever, so do you think the Legal Ombudsman should be doing more to encourage providers to improve? Have you identified any particular areas of poor practice that should be targeted? You mentioned that 28% of legal complaints are to do with not…”

“We have already had quite a detailed discussion about the Legal Ombudsman. You will hopefully be aware that this Committee is carrying out an inquiry into access to justice. Have you made an assessment as to the significance and the role of the Legal Ombudsman in facilitating access to justice?”

“Good morning. I am Warinder Juss, Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton West. I am a solicitor, but am not practising at the moment, and a member of various APPGs and the central executive council of the GMB trade union.”

“5. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.”

“I recently visited Wolverhampton girls’ high school in my constituency of Wolverhampton West, and was pleased to see posters promoting the “Orange Wolverhampton” campaign, which is working with community partners in the fight against gender-based violence and abuse. While the criminal justice system of course has a par…”