The Justice Secretary hopes the move will also help clear the court backlog of cases waiting to be dealt with.

The singer rose to stardom at the age of 16 after joining the boy band on the ITV singing competition in 2010.

United Utilities did not report at least 102 million litres of illegal sewage pollution to regulators, a BBC analysis found.

The latest estimated gap was wider for men than women and for full-time employees compared with part-time workers.