Ministry of Justice: Disability

Question

In January 2022, the High Court declared the National Disability Strategy (NDS) was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations.

The Ministry of Justice had five policies included in the National Disability Strategy. These include to:

○ attract more disabled people to the magistracy;

○ set out enhanced rights for disabled victims;

○ progress legislation in 2021 as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to amend common law so that deaf people who need a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter can do jury service

○ develop a neurodiversity training toolkit for frontline staff;

○ improve provision for disabled users, including through the accessibility of the estate and use of digital support.

Fully Implemented Policies

• The MoJ has invested over £1 million to support the recruitment of 4,000 new and diverse magistrates over the next few years in England and Wales. This includes encouraging more applications from a range of underrepresented groups in the magistracy, such as those with disabilities.
• The Victims’ Code sets out the minimum level of service that victims must receive from criminal justice bodies. In April 2021, a revised Victim’s Code came into force, structured around 12 key entitlements that are straightforward, concise and easy to understand.
• The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 gained Royal Assent in April 2022 and the provision allowing BSL interpreters to be appointed for deaf jurors came into force at the end of June 2022.
• HMPPS have developed a ‘National Neurodiversity Training Toolkit’ that is available for all frontline staff within prison and probation. The toolkit was developed by and with neurodivergent staff, in cooperation with HMPPS and MoJ staff networks.
• HMCTS has awarded a contract to the organisation ‘We are Digital’ who are delivering a service to support digitally excluded citizen users’ access to online services. This is being delivered through a network of advice and support organisations such as Law Centres, Citizens Advice and community centres.
• MoJ is piloting digital tools to improve support for neurodivergent people and evaluate what works well to inform future interventions. This includes piloting a new digitised literacy tool aimed at improving outcomes for prison leavers with learning disabilities and low literacy. This pilot will run for 12 months until October 2023, with an emphasis on evaluating the reducing reoffending rate over time.

We remain fully committed to supporting disabled people in the UK through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this, the Ministry of Justice will be providing further details of our recent achievements to improve disabled people’s lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer.

Ahead of this, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work will write providing a list of these achievements and will place a copy in the House Library.