Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to publish an updated response to the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Lord Chancellor set out the Government’s plans for reforms to sentencing of domestic homicides in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 6 December 2024 (HCWS286). The Law Commission has accepted our request to undertake a review of the law of homicide and the sentencing framework for murder. Drivers for this review include concerns related to gendered disparities for murders committed in a domestic context. The Terms of Reference and more information on the review can be found on the Law Commission’s website and they will publish a detailed timeline for the project shortly.
We are also taking more immediate action in the short-term by implementing two of the outstanding recommendations in the independent Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review which was undertaken by Clare Wade KC under the last Government. These measures are statutory aggravating factors for murders involving strangulation and those connected with the end of a relationship. We intend to lay a Statutory Instrument to implement these measures when parliamentary time allows and we have recently completed a statutory consultation with the Sentencing Council that must precede this process.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2025 to Question 50011 on HMP/YOI Downview: Transgender People, when the seven male prisoners held at HMP Downview will be moved to the men's prison estate; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure the (a) safety, (b) privacy and (c) dignity of female prisoners held in HMP Downview.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited the policy regarding allocation of transgender prisoners from the previous government and have not moved any transgender women into the women’s estate since taking office.
We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.
E Wing prisoners are held separately to other prisoners at HMP Downview. They cannot be given any access to the general women's estate in the prison unless risk-assessed as being safe to do so. If they are given access, this will be directly supervised by staff.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 on 16 April, whether they will ask the Victims' Commissioner to report on the implementation of the decision by the Supreme Court in regard to victims within six months.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Supreme Court ruling has provided clarity for women and service providers that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. The Government is currently considering the implications of the Court’s judgment.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison spaces are (a) available and (b) projected to be available at HMP Littlehey over the next three years; and what the maximum capacity is at that prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The operational capacity of each prison is published monthly at Prison population: monthly prison figures 2025 - GOV.UK. The current operational capacity of Littlehey is 1241, and there are currently no plans to change this.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has statutory obligations to provide language services where they are needed in the delivery of justice services.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 on 16 April, what guidance they will issue to (1) the Ministry of Justice, and (2) agencies and public bodies that work with the Ministry of Justice, about updating their policies and written guidance; whether they will consult the organisation Sex Matters in doing so; and whether the revised policies and written guidance will be laid before Parliament.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers and Government Departments should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to support male victims of sexual abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse is an absolute priority for this Government. As you will be aware, this Government is faced with an incredibly challenging fiscal environment. Ensuring that the future service landscape meets the needs of different victim groups is important, whilst seeking to ensure we can support as many victims as possible within the current financial situation.
The views of organisations are being considered as we think innovatively about the best way to deliver services for all victims, and shape future service design, in the current fiscal environment. The Victims Minister held a men and boys roundtable on 27 November as part of this process to feed into design considerations of the future service for victims of sexual violence and officials continue to lead extensive market engagement as part of this process.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of grooming gang convictions since 2005 have involved perpetrators born outside the UK.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government takes the issue of child sexual exploitation extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring that all perpetrators are brought to justice, regardless of their background.
It is not possible to identify an offender’s place of birth, or whether their offending was part of a grooming gang, from centrally collated convictions data.
The Government is focused on delivering meaningful change for victims impacted by these horrendous crimes and we must do so in a way that is unburdened by cultural sensitivities. This includes legislative reforms to strengthen mandatory reporting as part of our implementation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recommendations. A progress update on this work was published on 8 April 2025.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 on 16 April, whether they plan to issue guidance to ensure that judges and magistrates refer to all parties in courts and tribunals by their biological sex.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
To preserve judicial independence, statutory responsibility for the guidance and training of the judiciary is held by the Lady Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College. It is not constitutionally appropriate for the Government to issue guidance to the judiciary.
How judges refer to people in court is a matter for the judiciary and should be done in accordance with the Equal Treatment Bench Book. Judicial College will publish the next update to the Book in the summer. It is published online at the following link: https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/diversity/equal-treatment-bench-book/.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders released on licence were not tagged in accordance with their licence conditions in the last 12 months for which data is available; and what proportion of that total were due to (a) equipment shortages and (b) administrative delays.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by manually going through each individual’s record on the Electronic Monitoring (EM) supplier’s and probation service’s systems where this detail is recorded.