The DWP proposals on the Back to Work Plan will not remove access to legal aid for those Universal Credit (UC) claimants who may be sanctioned. Whilst anyone whose UC claim is closed would no longer be passported through the legal aid means test income assessment, the individual would remain eligible for civil or criminal legal aid, subject to the application of the full means assessment in the usual way. The additional provisions being built into DWP’s policy proposals will also mean that no vulnerable individual would face having their claim closed, thereby providing a further tier of protection for many legal aid user groups, such as the disabled and the homeless.

Over coming months, MoJ officials will be working closely with DWP officials as the policy develops.

The DWP proposals on the Back to Work Plan will not remove access to legal aid for those Universal Credit (UC) claimants who may be sanctioned. Whilst anyone whose UC claim is closed would no longer be passported through the legal aid means test income assessment, the individual would remain eligible for civil or criminal legal aid, subject to the application of the full means assessment in the usual way. The additional provisions being built into DWP’s policy proposals will also mean that no vulnerable individual would face having their claim closed, thereby providing a further tier of protection for many legal aid user groups, such as the disabled and the homeless.

Over coming months, MoJ officials will be working closely with DWP officials as the policy develops.

Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. That is why the Government is reviewing driving offences and penalties

The number of people sentenced for drink driving offences, the number disqualified and the proportion disqualified from driving from 2010 to 2013 can be viewed in the table below.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. This centrally held information records the period of disqualification into one of thirteen bands. As the exact length of driving ban is not available, it is not possibly to identify the average length of a disqualification from driving. This detailed information may be held on the court record but due to the size and complexity is not reported centrally to the MOJ. As such, the information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. That is why the Government is reviewing driving offences and penalties.

The review is ongoing and is due to be completed by the spring of 2015, with a view to informing the next government of potential legislative changes in the next Parliament. The timing of any publication of the review’s findings and recommendations will be considered once the review is completed.

Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. The Government is changing the law to increase maximum sentences for disqualified drivers who cause deaths and serious injuries and to make sure driving disqualifications continue after an offender leaves prison.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceeding Database holds information on offences provided by the statute under which proceedings are brought but not all the specific circumstances of each case. Details on disqualification from driving are not available from the information provided centrally to the Ministry of Justice. This detailed information is not reported due to their size and complexity and as such, it can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Justice’s extract of the Police National Computer (PNC), which MoJ uses to publish official statistics on offenders’ criminal histories, only holds information on those offenders who were cautioned or convicted for recordable offences in England and Wales.

To get information on subsequent convictions whilst disqualified from driving would require a lengthy, manual data matching process between these two data sources which have no unique or common identifier for the offenders, which due to its size and complexity will incur disproportionate cost.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

The Government takes driving offences extremely seriously and wants to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep our roads safe. That is why we are legislating to increase the maximum penalty for causing death by driving whilst disqualified from two to 10 years, and create a new offence of causing serious injury by driving whilst disqualified. We are also changing the law to allow the commencement of provisions which will ensure that courts must take account of any time in prison in setting the length of a driving disqualification.

The number of people found guilty for driving while disqualified in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2013 (the latest data available) can be viewed in the table.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not centrally record the total number of people prosecuted for driving whilst disqualified or driving whilst uninsured. To obtain details of the number of defendants prosecuted for these offences, would require a manual review of individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.

Driving motor vehicles while uninsured are specified proceedings. These are offences that are prosecuted by the police rather than the CPS in order to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and ensure swifter justice. The CPS will only prosecute a specified offence in cases where a not guilty plea has been entered or when the defendant is charged with other associated offences such as driving with excess alcohol.