Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of artificial intelligence tools within the courts of England and Wales, and what guidance or safeguards are in place to ensure judicial independence, accuracy and transparency.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The independent judiciary have their own procedures and policies. Guidance for judicial office holders on the appropriate and responsible use of AI has been issued by the judiciary and is publicly available on the judiciary’s website.

The judiciary’s approach to AI is designed to ensure that any use of AI by judicial office holders is safe, transparent, and consistent with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, while preserving judicial independence.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has developed its own Responsible AI Principles to provide guardrails for the development, delivery and maintenance of AI systems to ensure use of AI in the courts and tribunals is appropriate, safe and controlled.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have a role in arranging for Royal Assent to be given to the Isle of Man’s assisted dying bill.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The UK Government is currently in the process of reviewing the Isle of Man’s Assisted Dying Bill as part of our constitutional responsibilities towards the Crown Dependencies.

The Lord Chancellor is responsible for making a recommendation as to whether Crown Dependency primary legislation should receive Royal Assent.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministry of Justice has reviewed the Isle of Man's Assisted Dying Bill and, if not, when it expects to do so.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The UK Government is currently in the process of reviewing the Isle of Man’s Assisted Dying Bill as part of our constitutional responsibilities towards the Crown Dependencies.

The Lord Chancellor is responsible for making a recommendation as to whether Crown Dependency primary legislation should receive Royal Assent.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many and what proportion of Parole Board recommendations to move prisoners (1) serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence, and (2) serving a life sentence, to open conditions were rejected in each month in 2025.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

For many years the Secretary of State has asked the independent Parole Board for advice on whether a prisoner serving an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) or a life sentence is suitable for transfer to open conditions. Where the Parole Board recommends that a prisoner is so suitable, the Secretary of State is not bound to accept the recommendation, and it is the Secretary of State who is ultimately responsible for determining whether a life or IPP prisoner is safe to be managed in an open prison.

The following tables provide the number and proportion of recommendations made by the Parole Board which were rejected in each month in 2025 for prisoners serving (1) an IPP sentence and (2) a life sentence.

Table 1: Outcomes of consideration of IPP open condition recommendations

Table 2: Outcomes of Consideration of life sentence open condition recommendations

1. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Data have been provided for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2025 to align with the publication of the Parole Board’s data on recommendations for open conditions.

Public protection remains the priority and prisoners will only be approved for a move to open conditions if it is assessed that it is safe to do so.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his department is taking steps to deliver the recommendation from the Independent Sentencing Review of increased funding for the voluntary sector to support the Probation Service.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

I recognise the valuable role of the thousands of Voluntary Sector organisations that work in partnership with Prisons and Probation to provide vital support to people serving their sentence in prison and returning to the community.

We welcome the Independent Sentencing Review’s recommendation to explore how we can better harness the value of the Third Sector and build even stronger partnerships to enable better targeting of probation resource and improve outcomes for offenders.

We are currently in the process of re-procuring our commissioned rehabilitative services (CRS) contracts. 76% of current CRS contracts are led by the Third Sector. Our new contracts will improve on our current offering with expanded and improved consistency of service available in both custody and community.

We will continue to work with the Voluntary Sector as implementation of the Independent Sentencing Review progresses.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the average sentence was for those found guilty of female genital mutilation in each of the last five years.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and average custodial sentence lengths at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, including offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics

The table below provides the number of prosecutions over the past 5 years for offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. There have been no offenders sentenced to immediate custody during this period.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions were brought for female genital mutilation in each of the past five years.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and average custodial sentence lengths at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, including offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics

The table below provides the number of prosecutions over the past 5 years for offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. There have been no offenders sentenced to immediate custody during this period.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, prisoners who were aged 25 years or younger at the time of sentencing were serving a life sentence in custody with a tariff of 15 years or more in each year since 2022, categorised by ethnic group.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

Table 1: Number of prisoners serving life sentence who were aged 25 years or younger at sentencing, with a tariff of 25 years or more, broken down by sex, ethnicity and imprisonment status.

Table notes:

1. Tariff length is the time between date of sentencing and tariff expiry date, and does not take into account any time served on remand.

2. Offenders who are 25 years old or younger at sentencing includes everyone not yet 26 years old at sentencing.

3. Figures include offenders who received a Whole Life Order.

Disclosure control

An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of two or one. This is to prevent disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient.

Source: Prison NOMIS and Public Protection Unit Database

Data sources and quality

The figures in the above tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the average tariff length of a life sentence for murder was in 2024 and 2025 to date, in years and months.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

Table 1: Mean Tariff Length for Offenders Who Committed Murder, by Year of Sentence

Table notes:

1. *Data for 2025 are up to 30 September 2025.
2. Figures are subject to change as more information about tariff becomes available.
3. Tariff length is the time between date of sentencing and tariff expiry date, and does not take into account any time served on remand.
4. Figures do not include offenders who received a Whole Life Order.

Source: Public Protection Unit Database

Data sources and quality

The figures in the above tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls's oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth during the Oral Statement of 18 December 2025 on Violence against Women and Girls Strategy, if he will set out the list of invitees to the men and boys summit.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Our cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy places prevention at its heart. Building a positive agenda for men – and acknowledging the challenges young men and boys face in today’s society – is a critical part of this work. To this end, we will host a Men and Boys Summit this year, which the Deputy Prime Minister and I are pleased to be leading on behalf of the Prime Minister. We will share further details in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls's oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth during the Oral Statement of 18 December 2025 on Violence against Women and Girls Strategy, if he will publish the terms of reference for the men and boys summit.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Our cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy places prevention at its heart. Building a positive agenda for men – and acknowledging the challenges young men and boys face in today’s society – is a critical part of this work. To this end, we will host a Men and Boys Summit this year, which the Deputy Prime Minister and I are pleased to be leading on behalf of the Prime Minister. We will share further details in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls's oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth during the Oral Statement of 18 December 2025 on Violence against Women and Girls Strategy, when will the men and boys summit be held.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Our cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy places prevention at its heart. Building a positive agenda for men – and acknowledging the challenges young men and boys face in today’s society – is a critical part of this work. To this end, we will host a Men and Boys Summit this year, which the Deputy Prime Minister and I are pleased to be leading on behalf of the Prime Minister. We will share further details in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of court backlogs on health outcomes for prisoners held on remand.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a record and rising open caseload of nearly 80,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard in the Crown Court and too many victims waiting years for justice. That is why the Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a major programme of court reform to tackle these unacceptable delays and restore confidence in the criminal justice system. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve timeliness and efficiency in our criminal courts, we also asked Sir Brian to review court operations and make recommendations designed to boost court efficiency in Part 2 of his review. We are awaiting that report in the New Year and will look to act on its recommendations.

We are committed to working with our health partners to ensure that people in prison including those on remand have access to an equivalent standard, range and quality of health care in prisons to that available in the wider community to support their health outcomes. This is reflected in the National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England. This includes access to a range of treatments and interventions within prison as set out in the national service specification for mental health care in prisons.

For prisoners with severe mental health needs, the Mental Health Act (2025) received Royal Assent in December and contains several flagship reforms to improve access to mental health care and treatment, including, but not limited to, provisions to:

• Introduce a new statutory 28-day time limit for transfers from prison and other places of detention to hospital to reduce unnecessary delays experienced by prisoners who require mental health treatment.

• Stop courts temporarily detaining people with severe mental illness in prison as a ‘place of safety’ whilst awaiting a hospital bed for treatment or assessment under the Mental Health Act; and

• End the use of remand for own protection under the Bail Act where the court’s sole concern is the defendant’s mental health.

We will implement these reforms as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Sentencing Bill, currently being considered before parliament, introduces a package of amendments to the Bail Act (1976), which, alongside the presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less, will help to address the unsustainable growth in the prison remand population.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals convicted of sexual offences have been convicted of (a) a further sexual offence and (b) other violent offences after release from custody in the UK in each year since 2020.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on convictions and sentencing information for sexual offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possibly to identify whether the offender was a foreign national. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals who were convicted of sexual offences were given suspended custodial sentences in each year since 2020.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on convictions and sentencing information for sexual offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possibly to identify whether the offender was a foreign national. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the accredited official statistics release Public Sector Employment, UK: September 2025. This can be accessed at:

(Source: ONS Public Sector Employment reference tables – Table 8 HC, September 2025 edition; MoJ Workforce MI, September 2025)

Public sector employment - Office for National Statistics

As at September 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics Public Sector Employment statistics (Table 8 HC), and published 16 December 2025, 455 civil servants in the Ministry of Justice were on temporary or casual contracts, representing approximately 0.5% of the Department’s civil service headcount (total 96,715).

Ministry of Justice Civil Service Headcount – September 2025

Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Ministry of Justice’s Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at:
Ministry of Justice – Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25

(See Annex D: Off-payroll engagements, page 303).

For clarity, consultants are not civil servants and are therefore not included in civil service headcount figures. The latest Ministry of Justice, Workforce Management Information (June 2025), publishes total cost of contractors, which is part of the department’s transparency data and can be accessed at:
MoJ_headcount_and_payroll_data_for_June_2025_revised.ods

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals currently serving custodial sentences for sexual offences are held in prisons in England and Wales.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

A breakdown of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) by offence group is published in the Annual prison population statistics and the most recent publication can be found here: prison-population-2025.ods. Please see Table_1_A_26, which shows the breakdown as of 30 June 2025.

As these statistics are published annually, we are not able to provide a more recent breakdown.

Between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2025, we removed over 2,700 FNOs under the Early Removal Scheme, that is more than the number removed over the same period in the 2024, and a significant 74% increase compared to the same period in 2023. It will free up much-needed space in our prisons.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed expansion of electronic monitoring of offenders in helping to (a) reduce reoffending and (b) support rehabilitation.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

In support of the Sentencing Bill, the Ministry of Justice will significantly expand the use of electronic monitoring as a vital tool for probation to ensure offenders are managed safely in the community.

This expansion builds on the Department’s long-standing commitment to building the evidence base for electronic monitoring. Our evaluations, alongside external research commissioned by the Department, have provided clear evidence that targeted electronic monitoring conditions can reduce reoffending and support reintegration by providing an effective alternative to custody. A recent study has found that curfew tags reduce reoffending by 20% when used as part of a community sentence. Further to this, our Acquisitive Crime pilot evaluation shows that burglars, robbers, and thieves given a constant whereabouts monitoring condition with a GPS tag were around 20% less likely to reoffend while on the tag.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that those remanded in custody for more than six months receive access to (a) education, (b) work and (c) mental health support.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring that individuals held in custody, including those on remand, have access to appropriate rehabilitative, educational, and wellbeing support while in prison.

Remand prisoners are eligible to access the core education provision available in prisons. This may include literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages, basic digital skills, and library services. On arrival, all prisoners undergo initial screening for learning needs and receive an individual Learning and Work Plan to support progression. Governors must ensure that education is available to all prisoners who can benefit, in line with Prison Rule 32, and remand prisoners are encouraged to participate in these opportunities. In addition to education, remand prisoners can take part in work related activities where they wish to and where operationally feasible. These activities provide purposeful engagement and help maintain routine and structure during custody.

Together with our health partners, we are committed to ensuring that people in prison have access to an equivalent standard, range and quality of health care in prisons to that available in the wider community. This is reflected in the National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England. All people in prison, including those held on remand, have access to integrated mental health services commissioned by NHS England. This includes access to a range of treatments and interventions within prison as set out in the national service specification for mental health care in prisons.

For prisoners with severe mental health needs, the Mental Health Act received Royal Assent earlier this month and contains several flagship reforms to improve access to mental health care and treatment, including, but not limited to, provisions to:

• Introduce a new statutory 28-day time limit for transfers from prison and other places of detention to hospital to reduce unnecessary delays experienced by prisoners who require mental health treatment.

• Stop courts temporarily detaining people with severe mental illness in prison as a ‘place of safety’ whilst awaiting a hospital bed for treatment or assessment under the Mental Health Act; and

• End the use of remand for own protection under the Bail Act where the court’s sole concern is the defendant’s mental health.

We will implement these reforms as soon as it is safe to do so.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support provided by HM Prison Service for the welfare of (a) Qesser Zuhrah, (b) Amy Gardiner-Gibson, (c) Jon Cink, (d) Heba Muraisi, (e) Teuta Hoxha, (f) Kamran Ahmed, (g) Muhammad Umer Khalid and (h) Lewie Chiaramellob during their hunger strike.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The safety and wellbeing of those held in our prisons is of vital importance. Healthcare in prisons is the responsibility of the NHS: Prison Service staff work with healthcare partners to ensure that those held in prison have access to the same quality and range of services as the general public receives from the NHS, as required by the Prison Rules 1999.

His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has well-established and effective procedures in place for managing prisoners who refuse food, and these are being followed in the case of those of the named prisoners who are currently refusing food, with appropriate medical assessment and support in place.

When a prisoner refuses food, prison staff will act immediately in accordance with the Prison Safety Policy Framework. This includes notifying healthcare professionals and conducting regular welfare checks. The Framework also provides for close monitoring of the person’s health by healthcare staff. Additionally, prison chaplaincy teams are available to provide pastoral care.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national sex offenders have been convicted in each year since 2020.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on convictions and sentencing information for sexual offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

However, it is not possibly to identify whether the offender was a foreign national. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the levels of mental health issues among (a) parents and (b) young fathers during family court proceedings.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We recognise the impact that family court proceedings can have on parents, particularly victims of domestic abuse, and are committed to long-term reform of the family court to better support users.

The family court has a range of powers to support and protect victims, including prohibiting in-person cross examination of survivors by alleged abusers and automatically providing special measures, such as the ability to provide evidence behind a screen.

We have redesigned the information and guidance for separating families on GOV.UK, making it more user-friendly through extensive user-tested changes. We are also testing a triage tool which will support users to access information specific to their personal circumstances, alongside signposting to relevant support and advice services.

Legal aid is available for parents in certain public and private family law matters subject to the relevant means and merits tests. Beyond legal aid, over £6 million will be provided in 2025–26 to 60 organisations, including Citizens Advice, Law Centres and AdviceNow, to expand free legal information and early support. The Help with Fees scheme ensures that court fees do not prevent parents accessing proceedings.

The Government has not carried out a specific assessment of the levels of mental health issues among parents and young fathers during family court proceedings. However, the Government is aware of the impact involvement in family court proceedings can have on the mental health of both the parents and children involved. and encourages those affected to seek appropriate support from local NHS and voluntary services.

In addition, the charity Support Through Court offers practical, procedural and emotional support to all parents facing court without legal representation. It operates across England and Wales and also offers a national helpline.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has she made of the accessibility and quality of support for both parents during family court proceedings.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

We recognise the impact that family court proceedings can have on parents, particularly victims of domestic abuse, and are committed to long-term reform of the family court to better support users.

The family court has a range of powers to support and protect victims, including prohibiting in-person cross examination of survivors by alleged abusers and automatically providing special measures, such as the ability to provide evidence behind a screen.

We have redesigned the information and guidance for separating families on GOV.UK, making it more user-friendly through extensive user-tested changes. We are also testing a triage tool which will support users to access information specific to their personal circumstances, alongside signposting to relevant support and advice services.

Legal aid is available for parents in certain public and private family law matters subject to the relevant means and merits tests. Beyond legal aid, over £6 million will be provided in 2025–26 to 60 organisations, including Citizens Advice, Law Centres and AdviceNow, to expand free legal information and early support. The Help with Fees scheme ensures that court fees do not prevent parents accessing proceedings.

The Government has not carried out a specific assessment of the levels of mental health issues among parents and young fathers during family court proceedings. However, the Government is aware of the impact involvement in family court proceedings can have on the mental health of both the parents and children involved. and encourages those affected to seek appropriate support from local NHS and voluntary services.

In addition, the charity Support Through Court offers practical, procedural and emotional support to all parents facing court without legal representation. It operates across England and Wales and also offers a national helpline.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on recognising parental alienation as a form of emotional harm to children.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government does not recognise the concept of “parental alienation” syndrome and does not believe it is capable of diagnosis.

The Family Justice Council has published guidance on “responding to a child’s unexplained reluctance, resistance or refusal to spend time with a parent and allegations of alienating behaviour”. The guidance provides a clear framework for assessing whether alienating behaviours are present. The guidance is clear that where the court finds that domestic abuse has occurred then the child’s rejection of the parent is appropriate and justified.

Cafcass practitioners receive mandatory training on alienating behaviours. Cafcass’ training programme includes training on the domestic abuse practice policy (introduced in 2024) and on indicators of understanding why a child does not want to spend family time with a parent guide, including due to alienating behaviours. The training policy and guide make clear that the first step in assessing the reasons for a child not wanting to see a parent is to consider whether domestic abuse is a factor so that Cafcass practitioners can explore the pattern of behaviours in the safest context.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the reasons for current waiting times within the Specialist Team of the Probate Registry, and of the impact of those delays on bereaved families; and what measures his Department is introducing to reduce the distress and financial uncertainty caused by protracted waiting times.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Applications for Probate can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant, a caveat is in place or where cases are more complex. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is investing in more staff, alongside system and process improvements to improve timeliness and further build capability for the more complex cases, which include cases involving a lost will.

The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness in our regular quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the backlog within the Probate Registry; and what steps his Department is taking to expedite the processing of applications for Grants of Probate, including in cases involving lost wills.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Applications for Probate can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant, a caveat is in place or where cases are more complex. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is investing in more staff, alongside system and process improvements to improve timeliness and further build capability for the more complex cases, which include cases involving a lost will.

The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness in our regular quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, prisoners are currently serving an Extended Determinate Sentence with a custodial term of (a) less than or equal to 6 months, (b) greater than 6 months to less than 12 months, (c) 12 months to less than 2 years, (d) 2 years to less than 4 years, (e) 4 years to less than 5 years, (f) 5 years to less than 7 years, (g) 7 years to less than 10 years, (h) 10 years to less than 14 years, (i) 14 years or more.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The requested information can be found in the table below.

Table: Prisoners serving an Extended Determinate Sentence by sentence length, as at 30 September 2025, England and Wales [note 1][note 2]

[note 1] Figures based on Extended Determinate Sentenced prisoners with a recorded sentence length.

[note 2] Judicially Imposed Sentence lengths as recorded on prison-NOMIS

Data quality - The figures in the table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Disclosure control - Where necessary, [c] has been used to suppress values of one or two to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient. This could include the secondary suppression of zero values.

Additional resources - Key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision can be found in the Offender management statistics quarterly (OMSQ) publication - Link to 'OMSQ publication' (opens in a new window).

Crown copyright (produced by the Ministry of Justice)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the (1) mean, and (2) median, tariff length for prisoners receiving a life sentence aged (a) under 18, (b) 18 to 20, (c) 21 to 24, (d) 25 to 29, (e) 30 to 34 (f) 35 to 39, (g) 40 to 49, (h) 50 to 59, (i) 60 to 69, and (j) 70 and over, at the time of sentencing, in 2024, and in 2025 to date.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

Table 1: Mean Tariff Length for Offenders Receiving a Life Sentence, by Age at Sentencing and Year of Sentence

Table 2: Median Tariff Length for Offenders Receiving a Life Sentence, by Age at Sentencing and Year of Sentence

Table notes:

1. *Data for 2025 are up to 30 September 2025.

2. Figures are subject to change as more information about tariff becomes available.

3. Tariff length is the time between date of sentencing and tariff expiry date, and does not take into account any time served on remand.

4. Figures do not include offenders who received a Whole Life Order.

Data sources and quality

The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Source: Public Protection Unit Database

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were in prison on recall as of 1 December 2025 following a breach of licence conditions where no further criminal charge was brought; and to provide a breakdown of that number by the continuous length of time spent in custody since their most recent recall in increments of (1) less than 12 months, (2) one to two years, (3) two to three years, (4) three to four years, (5) four to five years, (6) five to six years), (7) six to seven years, (8) seven to eight years, (9) eight to nine years, (10) nine to ten years, and (11) more than ten years.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data on the prison population is published as part of the Department’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) release, with the latest publication including prison population data as at 30 September 2025.

The requested information (based on the prison population as at 1 December 2025) cannot be provided at the current time because it would provide an early indication of the data underpinning the next iteration of these Accredited Official Statistics, which will be published on 29 January 2026

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people currently in prison aged 80 or older are serving a sentence they originally received when aged (a) 15 to 17, (b) 18 to 20, (c) 21 to 24, (d) 25 to 29, (e) 30 to 39, (f) 40 to 49, (g) 50 to 59, (h) 60 to 69, and (i) 70 and older.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The requested information can be found in the table below:

Table: Number of prisoners aged 80 or over broken down by age at sentencing, 30th September 2025, England and Wales [note 1]

Source: Prison NOMIS

[note 1] The data presented in this table excludes prisoners awaiting sentencing that are held on remand.

Data quality - The figures in the table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Disclosure control - Where necessary, [c] has been used to suppress values of one or two to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient. This could include the secondary suppression of zero values.

Additional resources - Key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision can be found in the Offender management statistics quarterly (OMSQ) publication - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Crown copyright (produced by the Ministry of Justice)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, as of 30 September 2025, how many and what proportion of recalled (1) men and (2) women in prison were serving (a) less than or equal to 6 months, (b) greater than 6 months to less than 12 months, (c) 12 months to less than 2 years, (d) 2 years to less than 4 years, (e) 4 years to less than 5 years, (f) 5 years to less than 7 years, (g) 7 years to less than 10 years, (h) 10 years to less than 14 years, (i) 14 years or more (excluding indeterminate sentences), (j) extended determinate sentences, (k) imprisonment for public protection, (l) a life sentence, (m) a non-criminal sentence, (n) a sentence of length not recorded.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

The information needed to provide a comprehensive answer to these questions could be provided only at disproportionate cost as central records are not kept in a way that they can be filtered by the required fields to obtain the information.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many recalls to custody initiated by the probation service in 2024 were for people serving a (1) standard determinate sentence, (2) extended determinate sentence, (3) mandatory life sentence, (4) discretionary life sentence, (5) automatic life sentence (imposed on or before 4 April 2005), and (6) automatic life sentence (imposed after 4 April 2005).

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

The information needed to provide a comprehensive answer to these questions could be provided only at disproportionate cost as central records are not kept in a way that they can be filtered by the required fields to obtain the information.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the (1) mean and (2) median number of months served beyond tariff for individuals who have not yet been released and are serving (1) a life sentence, (2) a mandatory life sentence, (3) a discretionary life sentence, and (4) an automatic life sentence.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) on the prison population.

The information needed to provide a comprehensive answer to these questions could be provided only at disproportionate cost as central records are not kept in a way that they can be filtered by the required fields to obtain the information.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to bring forward legislation to reverse the PACCAR judgement within the current Parliament.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We intend to introduce legislation to mitigate the effect of the PACCAR judgment as soon as parliamentary time allows. The new legislation will clarify that Litigation Funding Agreements are not Damages Based Agreements. The Government recognises the critical role third-party litigation funding plays in access to justice and is committed to ensuring it works fairly for all.

We will outline next steps in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of its proposals to alter the use of jury trials on defendants.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

An impact assessment will accompany our legislative measures, as is usual practice.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish the modelling and impact assessment relating to proposals to limit the use of jury trials.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

An impact assessment will accompany our legislative measures, as is usual practice.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what public consultation his Department has undertaken on planned changes to jury trials.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

In developing his recommendations, Sir Brian Leveson and his expert advisers, including Professor David Ormerod, consulted with many external bodies involved in the Criminal Justice System including criminal legal organisations, charities, academics, and members of the judiciary.

The Review conducted a call for evidence on GOV.UK, to ensure it heard as many perspectives as possible. A full list of those who engaged with the Review is at Annex C of Sir Brian’s report.

In addition, when considering Sir Brian’s recommendations and developing our proposals, I have engaged regularly with stakeholders and relevant sectors over the last 12 months including meeting regularly representatives from the legal sector (Law Society, Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association), victims and victims representatives (the Victims Commissioner, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Rape Crisis), judiciary (Circuit leaders, Judicial leadership), magistracy (Magistrates’ Association, Magistrates’ Leadership Executive), non-governmental organisations (Appeal, JUSTICE, Transform Justice), court staff in criminal courts around the country (Wood Green, Snaresbrook) and similar international jurisdictions. For example, I met judges and visited courts in Canada, which uses types of judge-only trial.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of magistrates’ courts to handle additional triable-either-way cases.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The magistrates’ court is an effective and efficient jurisdiction – In the 12 months to September 2025 it disposed of 1,448,163 cases with an average timeliness (offence to case completion) for the most recent quarter of 191 days. The Government will ensure there are sufficient numbers of magistrates and will seek to ensure that there are sufficient magistrates’ court sitting days to meet additional demand placed on the system.

An impact assessment for the criminal court reforms will be published alongside legislation in the usual way. In 2024, triable either way offences in the magistrates’ courts completed more than four times faster than in the Crown Court.

The Government has already made significant additional investment in the criminal justice system – in record sitting days, court buildings and technology, and in legal professionals. We have secured record investment (up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period), and we are investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate, including magistrates’ courts. Discussions about the allocation for 2025-26 between the Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue and we will provide more detail in due course. Nevertheless, the Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise.

We are also accelerating our programme to recruit more new and diverse magistrates over the coming years and we continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers to ensure courts remain resilient.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Court courtrooms are not sitting on average in each month, and what steps he is taking to address the issue of Crown Courts not sitting.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.

Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.

In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days -  the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that available Crown Court courtrooms are utilised on every sitting day.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.

Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.

In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days -  the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to apply trial by a single judge sitting alone retrospectively to defendants who have already entered a plea and elected trial by jury.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Ministers will introduce detailed proposals to Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of expanding magistrate court provision in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Government has already invested heavily in the criminal justice system – in record sitting days, court buildings and technology, and in legal professionals. We have secured record investment (up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period), and we are investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate, including magistrates’ courts across the South East. Discussions about the allocation for 2025-26 between the Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue and we will provide more detail in due course. Nevertheless, the Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise.

We are also accelerating our programme to recruit more new and diverse magistrates over the coming years and we continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers to ensure courts remain resilient.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many migrants who arrived illegally have been given legal aid funded from the public purse in the last five years; and what the cost is of that legal aid.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The requested information is not centrally held. Where proceedings are before a court or tribunal in England or Wales, legal aid is available to individuals who qualify for services irrespective of their immigration status or method of entry into England and Wales. Method of entry to England or Wales is not relevant to eligibility for legal aid under the current rules.

Generally, applications for legal aid will be subject to an assessment of the merits of the case and the financial circumstances of the applicant.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increased trials without juries on the number of judicial review applications.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Following reforms to the criminal courts, judicial review of criminal court decisions will be available in the same circumstances as it is currently.

We might expect to see an increase in the number of applications, given we expect to see more cases retained in the magistrates’ courts; however, the permission stage of a judicial review will mean that only those with proper grounds for a judicial review will progress.

Domestic violence and coercive control can destroy lives, sometimes driving victims to suicide. Yet the law fails to recognise this as a specific criminal offence.

In recent years, there have been reports that serious crimes, including violent assaults and murders, have been increasing across the UK.

To amend the entry at Column D row 550 of the HOSCR Notifiable Offences List to designate Perjury as defined by the Perjury Act 1911 section 1.1 as S/V not simply as 'S' rendering it either a 'state-based' crime without a victim or a 'victim-related' crime dependant upon the reported circumstances

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Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on victims of crime of the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

We recognise the important work PCCs do to commission vital support services for victims and witnesses of crime. We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice to establish how PCCs’ existing victims’ responsibilities will operate within the new police governance system. Ensuring continuity of support for victims in the future arrangements will be a key priority.

We are establishing transition working groups to consider the design and implementation of the future governance arrangements. One of these will specifically focus on partnerships and commissioning, including victims’ responsibilities.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the past twelve months.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office does not centrally hold detailed data on all discipline cases required to answer this question.

• Minor misconduct cases are managed within the line management chain and details are held at that level.

• Serious and gross misconduct cases are reported via a third party, Civil Service Casework, supplied by the MOJ Casework Team. This data relies on MOJ HR Case Manager manual entries which may be inaccurate and or incomplete.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that local authorities meet the ambition that 2% of the drug and alcohol treatment population are accessing residential treatment.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, including residential treatment, and for commissioning services to meet these needs. The Department set an ambition that 2% of the drug and alcohol treatment population should be accessing residential treatment. We remain committed to this ambition and continue to work with the sector to achieve this. We have asked every local authority to set a local target that contributes to this ambition.

Earlier this year, the Department launched the self-assessment toolkit to help local areas to improve the residential drug and alcohol treatment that they commission, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/residential-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-self-assessment-toolkit

The Department of Health and Social Care facilitates a residential treatment provider forum and engages in annual planning for local authorities and partners, including target-setting for residential episodes. The Department also maintains regular engagement with the English Substance Use Commissioners Group and holds joint meetings with the Ministry of Justice to explore improved pathways from the criminal justice system into residential treatment.

We are providing local authorities with £3.4 billion ringfenced funding over the next three years for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This first multi-year settlement in over a decade gives local authorities the certainty to plan and invest for the medium term.

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