Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Welsh Government has made a formal request for the devolution of (a) justice, (b) youth justice, (c) probation and (d) policing.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Welsh Government and Ministry of Justice ministers have met to discuss progressing the manifesto commitments on youth justice and probation. Welsh Government and Ministry of Justice officials continue to work together to progress this.
The Ministry of Justice is not responsible for policing and therefore has not received a request in respect of the devolution of policing.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who were (a) convicted and (b) cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three, (iv) four and (iv) five or more prior convictions for a violent offence in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the timely processing of domestic abuse cases in courts; and what additional resources have been allocated to minimise case backlogs.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Whilst judges already prioritise cases involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, including domestic abuse, we know that victims who cases are heard at the Crown Court are waiting too long for justice.
That is why this Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. After considering the recommendations made in Part 1 of this report, we have announced our intention to take forward a bold package of structural reforms, designed to improve timeliness in the Crown Court and speed up justice for all victims, including victims of domestic abuse. This financial year we also funded 111,250 Crown Court sitting days – an all-time high.
We have also published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy - ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’ - setting out the Government’s approach to tackling domestic abuse and other offences perpetrated against women and girls. We are already acting by:
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to hold discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his comments of December 2025 on the treatment of hunger-striking prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
No discussions are planned. We are confident that the measures in place to ensure proper care for prisoners who refuse food are in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the maximum amount of non-means-tested legal aid that they envisage being made available for each individual bereaved person and family at inquests in England and Wales for (1) legal assistance, and (2) advocacy, under the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Bill will provide non-means tested legal help and advocacy for bereaved families at inquests where a public authority is named as an interested person. As under the current system, the amount paid will depend on the work carried out by the provider on the inquest, which will be different for each case depending on its duration and complexity.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been prosecuted under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each of the last five years, broken down by the recorded ethnicity of the defendant.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of criminal offences including those under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. Data within the published tool can be disaggregated by ethnicity and sex.
The data specific to offences under section 25 of The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is available by selecting the HO offence filter and using the following codes
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions for incest under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 have been recorded in each of the last five years, disaggregated by the ethnicity and gender of the offender.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of criminal offences including those under section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics. Data within the published tool can be disaggregated by ethnicity and sex.
The data specific to offences under section 25 of The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is available by selecting the HO offence filter and using the following codes
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the financial cost to parents of attendance at child contact centres.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government values the vital role that child contact centres play in supporting safe, positive relationships between children and their parents, particularly at times of family difficulty.
The Government is not responsible for setting the fees charged by child contact centres. Child contact centres operate independently and are responsible for setting their own pricing structures, which may vary according to the type of contact provided, the centre’s funding arrangements, staffing requirements and geographical location. As such, the Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the financial cost to parents of attending a child contact centre.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for violence against the person in each of the past 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence did not receive an immediate custodial sentence and had a) one, b) two, c) three, d) four and e) five or more prior convictions for theft or robbery in each of the past 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the attached excel table. This table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on:
The number of offenders who were a) convicted and b) cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences, and
The number of offenders who were convicted or cautioned for an indictable offence who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence by number of previous indictable convictions for specified offences.
This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Police National Computer database.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.