Working on Family Court Reform plus Legislation for Victims & Sentencing
Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick
Andy Slaughter MP meets young volunteers from Hammersmith and Chiswick
October 31, 2025
This week started with the remaining stages of the Victim and Courts Bill. It is an excellent piece of legislation which will make a difference to many victims. During the third reading, I asked the Minister to rededicate themselves to bringing down the Crown Court backlog as speedy justice is what is needed to help many victims across England and Wales.
We also had the remaining stages of the Sentencing Bill. As Chair of the Justice Committee, I have tabled a number of amendments to help improve the Bill. I reminded the Minister of those amendments and asked if they would be taken forward as the Bill now progresses through the Lords.
It has been a big week for the Committee, firstly with an important evidence session examining reform of the Family Court. The Committee was grateful to hear from witnesses Dame Nicole Jacobs, Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Jacky Tiotto, Chief Executive of CAFCASS, Lisa Harker, Chief Executive of Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, Judiciary of England and Wales.
Reform of the family courts is something that is long overdue and I was very appreciative to all the witnesses who brought their own insight into how we should go about this.
The Committee also published its report: Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons. The findings during this report are sobering. The Committee found that there was a culture of acceptance within our prison system that must be broken. Without urgent reform to tackle the profitable supply networks, prisons will remain unstable, unsafe and incapable of gaining control over the drugs crisis. There have been lots of media coverage on the report, due to its stark findings.
On Thursday evening I was delighted to attend the Justice for All event celebrating 800 years of the Magna Carta at the Old Bailey. It was a wonderful evening full of inspiring talks from those working in the justice system. I was also lucky enough to meet a group of young volunteers from Hammersmith and Chiswick who are training for jobs in tech and business and helped organise the prestigious series of lectures about reforming the criminal justice system for the event.
Andy Slaughter on his visit to Brook Green Supply
On Friday morning I visited Brook Green Supply and met with Managing Director, Richard Nicholls. The company is based in Hammersmith since they were founded nearly 20 years ago and is now one of the biggest commercial energy suppliers. During my visit I heard about their many interesting ideas on how to make energy sector more efficient and cheaper.
Best wishes,
Andy
andy@andyslaughter.com
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