Jonathan Djanogly

As part of the Ministry of Justice's target to reduce its spending by £2 billion, Djanogly was tasked with reducing the legal aid budget by £350 million. In June 2011 he was one of the Ministers that introduced the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) to Parliament. Djanogly led the Bill process and it became law on 1 May 2012.[14]

On 29 March 2011 Djanogly launched a consultation: "Solving disputes in the County Courts", initiating a general review of civil law procedures, that included; increasing the small claims limit to £10,000, creating a single County Court and extending mediation assessment to all small claims.[15]

In an attempt to counter a perceived "compensation culture" in litigation, in September 2011 Djanogly announced the Government's intention to ban referral fees in personal injury claims.[16] The ban was included in the LASPO Bill, together with provisions preventing the recovery of claimant solicitors' success fees from losing defendants, intended to reform 'no win, no fee' deals.

In October 2011 Djanogly announced non-lawyers would be allowed to invest in and own legal businesses for the first time.[17] In 2017 the impact of these changes was considered to be mixed: they had not delivered the intended reduction in the cost of legal services, but there had been improvements in management arrangements and fee structures.[18]

In February 2012 Djanogly proposed a major legal overhaul of the bailiff industry to clamp down on bad practices. The proposals included a new regulatory body to oversee the industry, a new complaints process for debtors and clear fees so that people know what bailiffs can charge.[19]

In July 2012 Jonathan Djanogly announced the Government's intention to introduce a certificate declaring someone as 'presumed dead' to help families resolve the affairs of a missing person.[20]

As a shadow Business Minister Djanogly had proposed changes to employment law and continued this in Government. In January 2011 he launched a consultation: "Resolving Workplace Disputes", jointly with Ed Davey MP (who at the time was a Business Minister). The consultation led to measures which changed the practice and procedure of employment tribunals and how disputes could be resolved without recourse to tribunals. In July 2012 Djanogly also revealed plans to tailor employment tribunal fees to encourage businesses and workers to mediate or settle a dispute rather than go to a full hearing from summer 2013.

Djanogly said, "It's not fair on the taxpayer to foot the entire £84m bill for people to escalate workplace disputes to a tribunal. We want people, where they can, to pay a fair contribution for the system they are using, which will encourage them to look for alternatives."[21] Bringing a claim or an appeal to the employment tribunal is currently free of charge with the full cost being met by the taxpayer. By introducing fees, people using employment tribunals will start to contribute a significant proportion of the £84m cost of running the system. The aim is to reduce the taxpayer subsidy of these tribunals by transferring some of the cost to those who use the service, while protecting access to justice for all. HM Courts & Tribunals Service figures published in September 2014 subsequently showed that tribunals received 71% fewer claims in the quarter April to June than in the same period in 2013 – the smallest figure since records began in 2008/09.[22]

Djanogly was the Minister responsible for the courts service during the August riots of 2011 when a decision was taken to direct the riot cases to a limited number of magistrates courts sitting 24 hours a day for seven days a week.[23] Djanogly was also responsible for the merger of HM Courts Service with the Tribunals Service to create HMCTS on 1 April 2011. There were also major changes to the court estate, with 93 magistrates courts and 49 county courts being closed (out of a total of 530 courts), alongside proposals to reinvest £22 million of savings into the modernisation of the remaining court estate.[24]

As Minister for Family Law, Djanogly's main thrust was preparing the Government's response to, and implementation of, the Family Justice Review conducted by David Norgrove, which reported in November 2011. In private family law, Djanogly championed mediation saying, "Mediation for example may well play a larger role in resolving family justice matters in the future. As well as avoiding the expense of court, it has already been shown that in some circumstances, agreements reached through mediation are better adhered to than court judgements." In public family law, the focus became a need to reduce the length of care cases which, on average, were taking 61 weeks. Djanogly said "In my view there is no time to waste in reforming a system which has in the past years under-delivered for the many families, children, practitioners and staff that it is meant to be there to support."[25]

In May 2012 Djanogly was one of the ministers who introduced the Defamation Bill and he led on its progress through the House of Commons until it reached Report stage. The bill satisfied the coalition agreement to reform the law of defamation.[26]

In the 2009 expenses scandal it was suggested that Djanogly improperly claimed expenses for a "cleaner" who was actually a childminder. In response Djanogly stated that the person in question was employed as a cleaner although "there would clearly have been times during evenings when she would have been there with a child alone, but this was not her job or what she was paid to do" and acknowledged that the person received no other payment for any services provided.[27] In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that Mr Djanogly claimed almost £5,000 on his parliamentary expenses for the installation of gates at his constituency home. The MP installed the gates following security fears, after he helped constituents threatened by animal rights activists, and he was not required to repay the sum following the Legg audit of MPs' expenses in 2010.[28]

Djanogly initially repaid £25,000 but denied that his arrangements had been improper.[29] The Legg audit subsequently found that £17,364.76 had been improperly claimed but did not require any further repayment as more than this amount had already been received.[30]

In September 2010 it was revealed that Djanology had hired private detectives in 2009 to uncover the source of leaks to media about his parliamentary expenses.[31] Following a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner's Office by John Mann MP in connection with Djanogly's hiring of private detectives,[32] on 27 July 2011 the Information Commissioner said that he would not be investigating Djanogly for breaches of the Data Protection Act.[33][34]

In October 2011 Djanogly was stripped of his role of regulating Claims Management firms after it was revealed he failed to disclose conflicts of interest regarding his family members holding shares in said companies. The Ministry of Justice said "The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that Jonathan Djanogly took the appropriate steps to prevent any conflict between his financial interests and his Ministerial duties. There is no evidence that he acted in any way other than in the public interest."[35]

In a letter to Labour's justice spokesman, Andy Slaughter, who had raised the matter, Gus O'Donnell said that while there is "no suggestion of any impropriety in relation" to Djanogly's brother-in-law's firms that "for the avoidance of doubt decisions about the regulation of individual (claims management companies) should henceforth be handled by another minister".[36] Djanogly requested that the Claims Management Regulation Unit be overseen by a different Justice Minister,[37] to avoid any possible distraction from this important issue after it was suggested that he and his family[38] could personally profit.[39] Djanogly stated that neither he nor his Labour predecessor had ever had to make a decision in relation to the claims management unit, because decisions were delegated to officials, but it seemed prudent to head off any future allegation.[40] Claims management regulation policy however remained within his brief and on 22 August 2012, Djanogly launched a consultation to amend the conduct rules of claims managers and on 28 August 2012 announced that from 2013, the legal ombudsman would handle claims management complaints.[41]

In the run-up to the June 2017 general election, at a hustings event in his constituency Djanogly was accused by a constituent of ignoring her correspondence. The woman claimed to have received no follow-up communications from Djanogly several months after she raised concerns over government support for childcare for children with disabilities. Djanogly denied this, and when accused of lying suggested that her intervention was related to her Labour Party activism.[42]

In the run up to the 2019 general election, Djanogly refused to attend a hustings event. He stated that the Liberal Democrat campaign had been propagating fake news.[43]