Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long is it lawful for a prisoner to be kept in solitary confinement.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prisoners in England and Wales are not kept in solitary confinement. A prisoner may be removed from association where this appears desirable for the maintenance of good order or discipline, or is in the prisoner’s own interest. Prisoners in the adult prison estate may be separated in this way under the Governor’s authority for a maximum of 42 days. Segregation beyond this period must be authorised by a Prison Group Director, as an authority independent of the prison. The use of segregation is governed by Prison Service Order 1700.
The mental and physical health of prisoners removed from association is repeatedly assessed. Any prisoner segregated for over 30 days must have an individual mental health care plan in place. Segregated prisoners are managed by a multi-disciplinary team, which includes healthcare, mental health teams and psychology, overseen by a segregation review board. This board continually reviews both the physical and mental health of prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the psychological impact upon prisoners who spend long periods of time in solitary confinement.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Prisoners in England and Wales are not kept in solitary confinement. A prisoner may be removed from association where this appears desirable for the maintenance of good order or discipline, or is in the prisoner’s own interest. Prisoners in the adult prison estate may be separated in this way under the Governor’s authority for a maximum of 42 days. Segregation beyond this period must be authorised by a Prison Group Director, as an authority independent of the prison. The use of segregation is governed by Prison Service Order 1700.
The mental and physical health of prisoners removed from association is repeatedly assessed. Any prisoner segregated for over 30 days must have an individual mental health care plan in place. Segregated prisoners are managed by a multi-disciplinary team, which includes healthcare, mental health teams and psychology, overseen by a segregation review board. This board continually reviews both the physical and mental health of prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lichfield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to work with faith groups to support people being released from prison.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We work with faith groups to support prison leavers in several ways. Prison chaplaincy teams have links with community organisations, both faith-based and secular, and can often provide mentoring and support, either through an established community chaplaincy service or through individual arrangements.
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) provides funding for the Welcome Directory, which connects prisons, and those who help prison leavers to resettle, with faith and belief communities who are prepared to welcome and support those leaving prison.
HMPPS has also established the Chaplaincy Faith and Belief Forum, which enables faith and belief representatives to discuss policy, operational issues and matters of general concern relating to pastoral care, faith and belief practice for those in prison and those under supervision in the community.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil prisoners are held in His Majesty's Prison Woodhill, and of those how many are kept in its close supervision centre.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In line with statistical guidance and GDPR, we cannot release the requested data regarding the number of civil prisoners that are held in His Majesty’s Prison Woodhill, as this could lead to the identification of individuals, given the small sample sizes involved. There are no civil prisoners kept in its close supervision centre.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether their Department offers (a) paid time off work and (b) other support to employees who become kinship carers.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice offers paid time off work, in the form of special leave, for kinship carers who have parental responsibility.
Special leave may be granted to employees who need time off work to attend to their caring responsibilities. It may be planned or unplanned, and paid or unpaid. Employees may request special leave for several reasons including:
where normal care arrangements break down and other arrangements must be made.
to care for a sick or injured child if no other arrangements can be made.
At the discretion of a manager, special leave may be granted for other personal reasons not mentioned above.
Kinship carers with parental responsibility also have a statutory entitlement to unpaid parental leave.
All Ministry of Justice employees who are kinship carers have access to:
a comprehensive flexible working policy which all employees can access via the intranet.
the employee assistance programme which offers a wide range of support to staff including confidential advice on personal, social or work-related problems.
a variety of staff networks aimed at people with caring responsibilities.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of support provided to (a) witnesses and (b) victims by the Citizen’s Advice Bureau’s Witness Service in (a) England and (b) Berkshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice commissioned Witness Service has been available in all criminal court locations since 2003. The service provides practical and emotional support and information to help witnesses (including victims) give their best evidence. The Witness Service has been delivered by Citizens Advice under grant arrangements since 2015. There are rigorous and appropriate oversight mechanisms in place, and the Department is satisfied that Citizens Advice is delivering an effective and consistent service across England and Wales in line with the requirements of the grant.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate support is provided to victims of rape and serious sexual offences in (a) England and (b) Berkshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice provides funding for vital victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, in addition to core funding for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
I am maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support in 2025-26. The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund provides c.£20 million to specialist sexual violence support organisations across England each year, including £700,000 for activities in the Thames Valley PCC area.
We have committed to introduce free independent legal advisors for victims of adult rape to help them understand and uphold their legal rights.
Beyond March 2026, the Spending Review will prioritise delivering the Government’s missions.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) people and (b) charities providing support to people that (i) have self-harmed and (ii) are considering self-harming are not criminalised; and what guidance she provides to police forces.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023 gave partial effect to a Law Commission recommendation to create an offence of encouraging or assisting self-harm. The proposed new offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm intends to replace (in so far as it extends to England and Wales and Northern Ireland) that offence with a broader offence that can be committed by any means of communication, and in any other way (including, for example, direct assistance through the provision of bladed articles with which to self-harm). The person must have intent to encourage or assist the other person to seriously self-harm.
As with the current offence in the Online Safety Act, sharing experiences of self-harm or simply discussing the issue (including glorifying or glamourising self-harm), without an intention that another should seriously self-harm, will not be a criminal offence. We recognise the concerns of those offering support services that capturing such behaviour would potentially risk criminalising vulnerable people who merely seek to share their experiences of self-harm with no intention of encouraging others to self-harm.
The offence in the Online Safety Act comes from a Law Commission recommendation following a wide-ranging consultation and we will work with criminal justice agencies and others with an interest to update existing guidance and training to reflect the proposed expansion of the offence to include direct assistance to self-harm.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce backlogs in family courts in (a) Greater Manchester Combined Authority and (b) Rochdale Borough Council.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Delays in the court process can have a significant impact on children and families. We are committed to improving timeliness and reducing the outstanding caseload.
The Family Justice Board agreed system-wide national targets for reducing delay in 2024/25. These are focused on closing the longest running cases in private and public law, and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe.
As part of system-wide efforts, the Department for Education is investing £10 million to develop and implement local area initiatives to address the longest delays in public law cases. This includes a pre-case management hearing pilot which involves an information sharing meeting between the Local Authority Social Worker and the Cafcass Guardian. The pilot aims to reduce family court delay by ensuring that the case management hearing is as effective as possible at reducing the need for additional hearings. Rochdale and other local authorities within Greater Manchester have been actively participating in the pilot which is due to conclude at the end of March 2025. The pilot is being independently evaluated which will help inform future plans to reduce family court delay.
The Government has committed further funding for Pathfinder for private law in the next financial year, which is live in four areas. It will start in Mid and West Wales on 3 March and West Yorkshire on 3 June. Further expansion of the scheme will be confirmed in due course.
The Lord Chancellor agrees the programme of recruitment every year with the Lady Chief Justice, prioritising building judicial capacity where it will have the greatest impact on securing government objectives. This includes recruiting additional judges to hear Family cases.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to tackle the building maintenance backlog for courts and tribunals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is important that the infrastructure of our courts does not prevent hearings from taking place. It is a priority for this Government to ensure that cases can be heard, and victims can be given the justice that they deserve.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has a plan for future works to improve the resilience and quality of the court estate, and this is kept under regular review to make sure it meets operational priorities. Available maintenance funding is prioritised to sites that need it most, to ensure that buildings are safe, secure, meet statutory requirements and protect continuity of service.
£120 million was allocated for court maintenance and capital project funding for 2024/25. Funding for 2025/26 will be agreed through the concordat process and will be announced in due course. Funding for 2026/27 and beyond will be agreed through the Spending Review process, which is currently ongoing. The Chancellor has confirmed that the Spending Review will conclude on 11 June 2025.