Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements for managing unclaimed estates and properties under Bona Vacantia.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The collection and disposal of bona vacantia monies arising from the estates of deceased people & dissolved companies is managed by the Treasury Solicitor as the Crown’s Nominee, with the proceeds passing each year to HM Treasury. Such arrangements are set out in the Crown’s Nominee Account which is laid annually before Parliament.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming Bona Vacantia arrangements to permit local authorities to take ownership of unclaimed residential properties for public use.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The revenue from the collection of bona vacantia, including that from the open market sales of any residential property, is transferred annually to the Consolidated Fund for the general funding of HM Government expenditure for the general benefit of all citizens.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether her Department was invited by the Office for National Statistics to provide evidence or input into its review of the ethnicity harmonised standard.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team.
A public consultation between October 2025 and February 2026 sought views from a wide range of users, including Government Departments and public bodies, to understand user needs for ethnic group data. This was supplemented by a programme of engagement activity, including with representatives of all government departments.
ONS have committed to providing an initial response to the public consultation in April, and a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026 will include more detailed information on the departments that responded to the consultation.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2026 to Question 115462 on Sovereignty: Chagos Islands, how many times has the Attorney General met with Dapo Akande.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney and Dapo have met on 5 occasions, including the Attorney General endorsing Dapo Akande’s candidacy to be a judge to the International Court of Justice.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions there have been for offences relating to the termination of pregnancy through the the pills-by-post scheme.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The At-Home Early Medical Abortion or EMA (known as the “pills by post” scheme), was implemented to allow eligible individuals to receive medication to terminate a pregnancy of less than 10 weeks via post after a telephone or video consultation. Introduced in England and Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to improve access to care, the scheme was made permanent in August 2022.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of prosecutions for offences relating to the illegal use of medication expressly procured to cause an abortion. To establish number and outcomes of prosecutions where relevant offences relating to the misuse of medication were prosecuted would require a manual review of case files and this would be at disproportionate cost.
Management information is available which shows the number of offences charged by way of Sections 58 and 59 (administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion / procuring drugs, instruments to cause abortion) and Section 1 (child destruction) in which a prosecution commenced. The table below shows the number of these offences from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2025.
| Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 { 1(1) } | Offences Against the Person Act 1861 { 58 } | Offences Against the Person Act 1861 { 59 } |
2020-2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021-2022 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
2022-2023 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
2023-2024 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
2024-2025 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | |||
The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data are held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) prosecutions, (2) CPS referrals, (3) acquittals, and (4) convictions there have been under (a) sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, and (b) the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, for each of the last 10 years for which data are available.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants prosecuted, referred, acquitted, or convicted of offences created by s58-59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and s1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. To establish number and outcomes of prosecutions where these offences were charged would require a manual review of case files and this would be at disproportionate cost.
Management information is available which shows the number of offences of charged by way of Sections 58 and 59 (administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion / procuring drugs, instruments to cause abortion) and Section 1 (child destruction) in which a prosecution commenced. The table below shows the number of these offences from 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2025.
| Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 { 1(1) } | Offences Against the Person Act 1861 { 58 } | Offences Against the Person Act 1861 { 59 } |
2015-2016 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
2016-2017 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
2017-2018 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
2018-2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019-2020 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
2020-2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021-2022 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
2022-2023 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
2023-2024 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
2024-2025 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | |||
The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data are held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government what statistics are available comparing prosecution rates for crimes recorded in (1) rural, and (2) urban, locations.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
This Government is committed to protecting our rural communities, as well as tackling crimes that predominantly affect these communities, such as machinery theft. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutors work closely with local police officers and officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit to tackle all types of rural crime.
The CPS provides legal guidance on Rural crime, which is available to all its prosecutors, to assist them in dealing with these cases. They also provide specialist training to ensure that its prosecutors have the expert knowledge needed to prosecute these crimes.
The CPS does not hold any central record of prosecutions for crimes recorded in either rural or urban areas. In the most recent twelve months (ending March 2025) the CPS completed prosecutions in respect of 449,573 defendants and to identify which of these prosecutions relate to criminal activity in rural or urban locations would require a manual review of each case and this would be at a disproportionate cost.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2025 - 2028 provides a framework through which policing, and its partners, can work together to provide a dedicated and tailored support for rural communities and those who live and work within them. This strategy is a key step in our mission to deliver safer streets applies to all communities, urban and rural, across the country
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed across their department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As the number of individuals is five or fewer, across the AGO and the Law Officer Departments, I am unable to disclose the figure. This is to protect against the risk that individuals could be identified, in line with our obligations under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, if the Attorney General whether he provided advice to (a) the Prime Minister and (b) the Secretary of State for Local Government on the original decision to cancel local elections in May 2026.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
By long standing convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.
This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 is within the scope of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The offence of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 is not within the scope of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme as it is not an indictable only offence and is not specified in statute as qualifying for review under the scheme.