Family Law

The increased workload following the creation of the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2007 has been shared out as follows.

Lord Falconer Overall strategy; resourcing of his departments; major constitutional issues; appointments, including all judicial appointments; royal, church and hereditary issues and lord lieutenants; Privy counsellors; correspondence with cabinet ministers and the higher judiciary.

Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP, Minister of State Family justice; criminal justice; Her Majesty's Courts Service; implementation of the Constitutional Reform Act, the concordat and the Supreme Court judicial appointments commission; judicial diversity; coroner reform; Crown dependencies.

Rt Hon Baroness Ashton of Upholland, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State The Public Guardianship Office, including the mental capacity implementation programme, and the Official Solicitor's Office; human rights, including the Commission for Equality and Human Rights; European Union and international policy; international legal trade; Freedom of Information Act; national archives; data sharing and data protection; associated offices: the Statutory Publications Office.

Vera Baird, QC MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Civil and family legal aid; Law Commission; Legal Services Commission; civil law policy; criminal legal aid; women's penal policy; social exclusion; Land Registry; Equalities; better regulation.

Bridget Prentice MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Youth justice; reform of electoral administration; legal services; Legal Services Complaints Commissioner/Legal Services Ombudsman; asylum and immigration; compensation culture; devolution and regional policy.

Rt Hon David Hanson MP, Minister of State Penal and sentencing policy; oversight of prisons, probation, prisoner conditions and criminal law; Northern Ireland Court Service.

Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Prisons; probation; industrial relations; criminal law including the Corporate Manslaughter Bill; administrative justice including the creation of the Tribunals Service.