Claudia’s Law ‘should be in force this year’
MINISTERS HAVE come under pressure to speed up the introduction of Claudia’s Law to help families look after the affairs of missing loved ones.
The legislation named after missing York woman Claudia Lawrence, which was given Royal Assent last April, will allow families or friends to become legal guardian for a person’s affairs while they are missing, and manage their bank accounts, direct debits, bills and mortgages.
In the Commons yesterday York Outer MP Julian Sturdy questioned why secondary legislation was not yet in place to allow the families of missing people to make applications to become guardians of their loved one’s affairs.
He sought assurances that families would be able to make use of guardianship legislation before the end of the calendar year.
Responding, Edward Argar, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, said he was “keen that we make as rapid progress as possible”.
He added: “Officials in this department are currently drafting rules of court regulations and a code of practice so that those drafts can be finalised and consulted upon.”
Mr Sturdy said afterwards that he would have liked “clearer assurances”. THE UK economy benefited from a retail rebound in May as the sector received a “double boost” from warm weather and the Royal wedding.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy expanded 0.3 per cent in May, while gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.2 per cent over the three months to May. Both of those figures were in line with economists’ expectations.
The ONS’ head of national accounts Rob Kent-Smith said it showed a “mixed picture of the UK economy with modest growth driven by the services sector, partly offset by falling construction and industrial output”.
He added: “Retailing, computer programming and legal services all performed strongly in the three months to May, while housebuilding and manufacturing both contracted. Services, in particular, grew robustly in May with retailers enjoying a double boost from the warm weather and the Royal wedding.
“Construction also saw a return to growth after a weak couple of months.”
The pound lost ground on the news to trade flat against the US dollar at 1.325. Versus the euro, sterling was up 0.2 per cent at 1.129.
The readings are the first in the new set of rolling estimates of GDP by the statistic agency, which previously provided only quarterly estimates of growth.
The ONS figures show that in the three months to May, services output increased by 0.4 per cent compared with the three months ending February.
Month on month, services rose 0.3 per cent, with wholesale, retail and motor trade making contributions. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney last week highlighted that a recent revision to the first-quarter growth rate from 0.1 per cent to 0.2 per cent confirmed his view of the UK’s positive growth trajectory.
The scale and impact of extremism across England and Wales will be laid bare in a landmark review set to be launched by a newly created expert body.
The Commission for Countering Extremism will carry out intensive evidence-gathering with a view to publishing the first study of its kind.