Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of routinely publishing disaggregated data for Wales.

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

The Ministry of Justice recognises the value of routinely publishing disaggregated data for Wales. This is important for the effective delivery of justice.

The Ministry of Justice already collects, disaggregates and routinely publishes a wealth of data for Wales, including headline data on prison population (for example by age, offence group and ethnicity, and whether on remand or sentenced) and headline safety in custody data (for example deaths, self-harm and assaults on staff). We routinely publish a variety of probation data too, for example numbers of offenders starting community orders, accommodation, and employment activity. In addition, nearly all published courts and tribunals data is available for England and Wales separately.

In line with our approach to all our statistical publications, we continue to keep the content under review.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Minister will make an assessment of the potential merits of immediately releasing of all court transcripts related to the Pakistani heritage grooming gangs.

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

The release of court transcripts to interested parties in relation to individual court cases is a matter for the trial judge to consider. There is a standard process all applicants must follow to request and access a Crown Court transcript. An application form must be submitted to the court where the trial took place, and it is then considered by the judge. The provision of transcripts is also subject to payment of the relevant charge to cover the cost of transcription. Additionally, in certain high-profile cases, the judge’s sentencing remarks are published online on judiciary.uk.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to decolonise the (a) artwork and (b) heritage assets in (i) her Department, (ii) the (A) courts and (B) prison estates and (iii) each of her Department's arm's length bodies.

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

There has been no change in the Ministry of Justice’s management of artwork or heritage assets across our estate since the previous administration.

As separate entities, the responsibility for creating policy and guidance for artwork sits with each individual Arm’s Length Body, rather than with the Department.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce levels of reoffending among people released on licence.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

This Government is committed to reducing reoffending by giving prison leavers, including those released early on licence, the tools they need to turn their backs on crime. To do that, we will increase prisoners’ access to purposeful activity, such as education, deliver pre-release plans for all those leaving custody and ensure that people leave prison with a job and the skills needed to lead law abiding lives.

We are determined to help ensure our hard-working probation staff can continue to deliver high-quality supervision, including to those released on licence, and focus their time on those cases which need most attention. We need to increase the size of the workforce and are committed to bringing in at least 1,000 new trainee probation officers across the 2024/25 financial year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been (a) released in error and (b) released in error and not re-apprehended under the Early Release scheme as of 8 January 2025.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

On 10 September 2024, the Government took the necessary and unavoidable step to move certain release points from 50% to 40%, with an initial tranche of eligible offenders released on this date, and a second tranche released on 22 October 2024.

There was an issue with a repealed Breach of Restraining Order offence, which meant that 37 offenders were released in error in the first tranche because they were incorrectly sentenced. This specific cohort were all returned to custody. All prisoners in custody with this offence recorded against them were reviewed to ensure there were no further releases in error.

We have published data on how many offenders were released on the first day of both initial SDS40 release tranches (1,889 prisoners for Tranche 1, and 1,223 prisoners for Tranche 2). The number of people who have been released in error since September 2024 forms a subset of releases in error data which is scheduled for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of these statistical reports. Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the appropriacy of custodial sentences for pregnant women.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. The sentencing framework, maximum penalties and the Sentencing Council’s sentencing guidelines apply to all offenders.

Sentencing guidelines are clear that there are factors that sentencers should take into account to reflect personal mitigation, including pregnancy, or the impact on dependent relatives. Guidance makes clear that where an offender is on the cusp of custody, imprisonment should not be imposed where there would be an impact on dependents, that would make a custodial sentence disproportionate to achieving the aims of sentencing. However, in some circumstances, custody would be the only appropriate punishment for the most dangerous and violent offenders.

This Government has delivered on a manifesto commitment by launching an Independent Review of Sentencing, chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The Review will assess whether the sentencing framework appropriately considers the specific needs or vulnerabilities of women, including pregnant women. Additionally, we are establishing a Women’s Justice Board with a clear ambition to reduce the number of women in prison and to address their distinct needs within the Criminal Justice System.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on support for victims of rape and sexual assault who are under 18 and in the education system.

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

This Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of crime, including child victims of rape and sexual assault, have the support that they need to cope with their experiences and move forward with their lives. My Department provides funding to over 60 specialist support organisations through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund. This supports the delivery of tailored support programmes for all victims and survivors, including child victims.

I regularly meet with the Minister for Children and Families (DfE). This includes a recent joint meeting with her and the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls (HO) where we discussed matters relating to Violence Against Women and Girls.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of those convicted for their involvement in Pakistani heritage grooming gangs (a) are still in prison, (b) have been deported, (c) have been released back into the same community and (d) did not serve a custodial sentence.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Information on whether individuals are part of ‘Pakistani heritage grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the data systems relevant to these questions. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.

It is also not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records: however, to identify the nationality of people convicted of specific crimes would require the examination of individual court records. This would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted for their involvement in Pakistani heritage grooming gangs (a) had previous convictions and (b) have reoffended.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Information on whether individuals are part of ‘Pakistani heritage grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the data systems relevant to these questions. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.

It is also not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records: however, to identify the nationality of people convicted of specific crimes would require the examination of individual court records. This would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will publish the nationality of people convicted for their involvement in grooming gangs.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Information on whether individuals are part of ‘Pakistani heritage grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the data systems relevant to these questions. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.

It is also not possible to identify an offender’s nationality from the centrally collated convictions data. This information may be held on court records: however, to identify the nationality of people convicted of specific crimes would require the examination of individual court records. This would incur disproportionate costs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons offer the provision of braille transcription services for prisoners with visual impairments.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Braille translation services are available in publicly operated prisons through the national translation and transcription contract, which is currently held by thebigword Group Limited. Privately managed prisons must have arrangements in place using either this national contract or equivalent arrangements.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted for offences related to human trafficking since January 2020.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions for human trafficking offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of revising sentencing guidelines to protect the right to protest.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The right to peacefully protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are able to gather together and to express a point of view, provided that they do so within the law. The Government is fully committed to protecting and preserving that right.

Sentencing guidelines are developed by the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales, in fulfilment of its statutory duty to do so. The guidelines produced provide the Court with guidance on factors that should be considered, which may affect the sentence given. They set out different levels of sentence based on the harm caused and how culpable the offender is.

As an independent body, the Council decides its own work plan and priorities. The Lord Chancellor or the Court of Appeal can ask the Council to consider producing or revising guidelines in a particular area, but the Council is not required to agree to any such requests.

The definitive guidelines on the sentencing of public order offences were issued by the Council on 25 September 2019 and came into force on 1 January 2020. The Council is currently developing guidelines for additional public order offences.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding has been allocated to the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner (a) in total and (b) for support services for survivors of sexual assault and abuse since 2012.

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

The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice’s victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types.

My Department has committed £154 million per annum on a multi-year basis across this spending review period, up to the end of March 2025. For 2024/25 we provided £41 million of ringfenced funding for the recruitment of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors, and £21 million of ringfenced funding for community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services. These funding commitments have enabled us to provide tailored support to enable victims of sexual violence to cope and recover from the devastating effect of their crimes. Funding amounts for individual PCC areas are not routinely published.

The PCC for Hampshire publishes details on services commissioned in their annual reports available at: Money - Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff from ethnic minority backgrounds were employed in the youth justice secure estate on (1) 31 March 2024, and (2) 30 September 2024.

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

Information is held on staffing numbers in the public-sector youth secure estate, and is published quarterly at table 5b of the HMPPS Workforce Statistics Bulletin:

Staffing information in relation to settings that are managed independently is not held by HM Prison & Probation Service.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for prohibiting the religious solemnisation of unregistered marriages to ensure that Muslim wives have the protection of divorce law.

Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Marriage Act 1949 has long made provision for couples, including Muslim couples, to marry in their place of worship in a way that gives them legal rights and protections. While some couples intentionally choose to have a religious-only marriage, it is concerning that some individuals may not realise that their non-legally binding marriage lacks the legal protections that come with a legal marriage.

That is why the Government committed in its 2024 manifesto to ‘strengthen the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples’, including those in religious-only marriages. We will set out the next steps on delivering this manifesto commitment in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) days and (b) hours per week (i) county, (ii) family, (iii) magistrates and (iv) youth courts were open for in 2024.

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

Court opening times/hours are distinct from court sitting days/hours and are the hours in which the public can access HMCTS buildings. In practice in most ordinary working weeks, courts are open to the public for five days a week for a minimum of eight hours a day (40 hours a week), but each court building operates opening hours that suit the local operating environment. This differs for certain Magistrates Courts which hear remand cases on Saturday mornings (and some bank holidays) and are therefore open longer. We do not collect data on the specific days and hours that courts are open for. Opening hours usually start at some time between 08:30am and 09:30am and run to approximately 5:00pm. Court sitting hours, are normally 10.30am - 4.30pm but the timings of court sittings are a matter for the independent judiciary.

The Lord Chancellor has a statutory duty to ensure there is an effective and efficient system to support the carrying out of the businesses of the courts, and that appropriate services are provided for those courts. Opening hours in all courts are at the discretion of the Lord Chancellor under the Courts Act 2003.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence have been recalled to prison by (a) category and (b) reason for recall, in each of the past eight quarters.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people serving an IPP sentence have been recalled to prison because of homelessness in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been recalled to prison because of homelessness in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question HL3055, Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the public sector will be allowed to bid for new contracts for the provision of maintenance services for prisons.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Ministry of Justice will not be inviting public sector bids for the provision of maintenance services for prisons. A 2023 assessment undertaken in partnership with the Cabinet Office determined that a privatised solution was the preferred option for meeting prison maintenance service needs. This conclusion was approved by the previous administration.

In the interests of expediting the desired improvements in prison maintenance services, the Government is currently running a competitive tender process for these new contracts in line with the recommendations made.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence have been recalled to prison due to criminal allegations made against them which did not result in further police action, in each of the past eight quarters.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data on the number of offenders recalled to custody after becoming homeless are not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

Information about the number of IPP recalls is published in quarterly offender management statistics - Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in Birmingham received awards under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the value of those awards was.

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

The table below provides the number of compensation awards paid in each of the last five calendar years to applicants living in Birmingham.

Number of compensation awards paid to applicants living in Birmingham* **:

* The above table includes all awards where the applicant named Birmingham as the city in their home address in their application.

**The table does not include archived bereavement applications because the address of the applicant is not retained. In most cases, applications are archived three years after the case has been closed.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals have been convicted for grooming.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including grooming up to and including June 2024 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here:

Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.

However, convictions data held centrally does not include if the offender is a foreign national. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make being (a) the leader of and (b) involved in a grooming gang a statutory aggravating factor during sentencing.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Child sexual abuse and exploitation are the most vile and horrific of crimes - involving rape, violence, coercive control, intimidation, manipulation, and deep long-term harm.

That is why this Government is determined to act – strengthening the law, taking forward recommendations from independent inquiries, supporting stronger police action and protection for victims.

As part of this package of measures, the Government has committed to legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, to ensure that this behaviour is reflected in the sentencing of perpetrators.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessments her Department has made of the adequacy of Personal Independence Payment tribunal wait times; and what steps she is taking to reduce them.

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

We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing the outstanding caseload is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology as appropriate. If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will make a decision on that issue, taking all the circumstances into account.

Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the size of the current court case backlog is in England and Wales.

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

We publish court open caseloads across the criminal court, family court, and tribunals jurisdictions in the following publications:

Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2024 - GOV.UK.

HMCTS management information - September 2024 - GOV.UK.

Tribunals statistics quarterly: July to September 2024 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she is taking steps to improve the (a) quality and (b) performance of court language service providers: and whether she has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the future insourcing of those services.

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

The Ministry of Justice is committed to ensuring the justice system is supported by a suite of high-quality language services that meet the needs of all those that require them.

Ministry of Justice language service contracts, which began on 31 October 2016, are subject to robust governance arrangements.

These include monthly meetings with suppliers and stakeholders to review the quality of the services being provided and performance against contractual performance indicators. The contracts also provide for the Ministry of Justice to audit the suppliers to verify the accuracy of contractual payments, management information, and compliance with contractual obligations.

In 2016, the Ministry of Justice also awarded a contract to an independent quality assurance provider. They review the Ministry of Justice’s register of interpreters, conduct an annual audit of supplier processes for introducing new linguists, and conduct 'spot checks' of interpreters undertaking assignments.

The Ministry of Justice has regular conversations with stakeholders about the Department’s approach to language service provision. The decision to continue with outsourcing beyond the current contracts was given careful consideration, based on service requirements and value for money for the taxpayer.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases involved violence against (a) women and (b) girls in (i) criminal and (ii) family courts in each of the last five years.

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

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government, which is why we have committed to halving the prevalence of VAWG within the decade. We will go further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.

VAWG is defined as offences which predominantly, but not exclusively, affect women and girls. This includes sexual offences, stalking, harassment and domestic abuse.

Published data on the number of cases of stalking, harassment and sexual offences at criminal courts can be found in the Outcomes by Offence data tool published here: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: June 2024.

Data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice does not include detailed information about victims of offences and the nature of the offence. Therefore, information on some violence against women and girls and domestic abuse cases can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) recall and (b) reoffending rates are for offenders who have been released under the SDS40 scheme since September 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The number of people who have been recalled or have reoffended following release under the early release measure (SDS40) forms a subset of prison releases data which is scheduled for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.

General reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics.

General recall statistics are published regularly on a quarterly basis. The most recent statistics are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times prisons in Norfolk operated an (a) amber and (b) red regime in each the last 10 years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

As this information demonstrates, the new Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse.

All public sector prisons have systems in place for the day-to-day management of staff resources and regime delivery, to ensure that regimes are safe, decent, secure, resilient and sustainable.

The recorded information relating to regimes in prisons in Norfolk is available from September 2022 onwards, and is as follows:

Red Regime – None

Amber/Red – 151 times

Green/Amber – 450 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the sizing of electronic monitoring equipment.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Ministry of Justice set out its requirements relating to Electronic Monitoring devices as part of a procurement process that saw contracts awarded in October 2023 for the provision of Electronic Monitoring services. The Secretary of State is satisfied that the devices in use meet the standards required whilst acknowledging there will be circumstances when Electronic Monitoring is not a viable option.

To maintain the integrity of the equipment, including anti-tamper measures, and taking account of the necessarily robust nature of the equipment, there is a minimum strap size for the secure and safe fitting of monitoring devices. Field staff carry a range of strap sizes with them when conducting installation visits.

Ministry of Justice staff continue to work with suppliers to develop innovations and solutions in both technology and processes to expand the use of Electronic Monitoring.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing financial protection to victims of (a) financially coercive and (b) other controlling behaviour.

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

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse.

The financial difficulties which cohabitants, including victims of abuse, can face when their cohabiting relationships come to an end, is a matter of concern. That is why the Government committed in its 2024 manifesto to strengthen the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples. The Government will set out the next steps in due course.

In relation to divorcing couples, the Law Commission’s December 2024 scoping report on financial remedies considered how conduct, such as domestic abuse, including economic abuse, is considered by the courts when making decisions about a couple’s finances on divorce. The Government will carefully consider the findings of this report.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time was for a First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) appeal for (a) personal independence payment and (b) universal credit in (i) Mid Cheshire constituency, (ii) Cheshire and (iii) England in each of the last five years.

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

Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. The average waiting times data requested can be found under “Tribunal Statistics CSV files”.

The information requested about the number of appellants waiting for appeals to be listed is not held centrally.

HMCTS cannot isolate the number of appellants waiting for their appeal to be listed, as opposed to the number of appeals waiting to be listed. An appellant may have more than one appeal waiting to be listed:  appeals can be made against (amongst other things) initial decisions on entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), overpayments, or period of time for which PIP has been awarded, for which separate appeals can be lodged.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appellants are waiting for First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) appeals to be listed for personal independence payment in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England.

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

Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. The average waiting times data requested can be found under “Tribunal Statistics CSV files”.

The information requested about the number of appellants waiting for appeals to be listed is not held centrally.

HMCTS cannot isolate the number of appellants waiting for their appeal to be listed, as opposed to the number of appeals waiting to be listed. An appellant may have more than one appeal waiting to be listed:  appeals can be made against (amongst other things) initial decisions on entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), overpayments, or period of time for which PIP has been awarded, for which separate appeals can be lodged.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) children and (b) adults were prosecuted for the creation of indecent images of (i) children and (ii) adults using denudifying apps in 2024.

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

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions for a wide range of offences, including offences involving the possession, creation and distribution of indecent images of children. Data up to and including June 2024 is available in the Outcomes by Offences data tool that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly.

However, data held centrally does not include whether the offence involved AI-generated images or use of nudifying apps. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.

In relation to images of adults, it is already a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a sexually explicit deepfake image of an adult without consent, but not an offence to make one. The Government made a clear manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images, a central aspect of our commitment to halve the prevalence of violence against women and girls within the decade. We are bringing forward legislation to honour that commitment in the Crime and Policing Bill which will be introduced later this year, making this behaviour criminal so that perpetrators can be brought to justice.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were prosecuted for the (a) creation, (b) distribution and (c) ownership of entirely AI-generated indecent images of children in 2024.

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

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions for a wide range of offences, including offences involving the possession, creation and distribution of indecent images of children. Data up to and including June 2024 is available in the Outcomes by Offences data tool that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly.

However, data held centrally does not include whether the offence involved AI-generated images or use of nudifying apps. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.

In relation to images of adults, it is already a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a sexually explicit deepfake image of an adult without consent, but not an offence to make one. The Government made a clear manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images, a central aspect of our commitment to halve the prevalence of violence against women and girls within the decade. We are bringing forward legislation to honour that commitment in the Crime and Policing Bill which will be introduced later this year, making this behaviour criminal so that perpetrators can be brought to justice.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average processing time was for applications to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme by people resident in Birmingham in each of the last five years.

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

The table below shows the average time for decisions to be made on applications* for criminal injuries compensation by people resident in Birmingham**.

* The table does not include archived bereavement applications because the address of the applicant is not retained. In most cases, applications are archived three years after the case has been closed.

** The above table includes all awards where the applicant named Birmingham as the city in their home address in their application.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the video on prisons published by her Department on 11 December 2024, what steps she is taking to ensure compliance with the (a) Civil Service Code and (b) Government Communication Service's Propriety & Ethics Guidance for Government Communicators in relation to video content posted online by her Department.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

This post was taken down from all channels on 12 December after civil servants identified the content did not meet expectations on impartiality.

The Ministry of Justice Communication Team’s usual processes for checking the accuracy and appropriateness of social media posts were not followed properly in this instance. All staff involved have been spoken to and reminded of their responsibility to uphold the Civil Service Code.

In addition to our usual mandatory training on the Civil Service Code and propriety and ethics, the Director of Communications will deliver mandatory refresher training across the Communications Directorate and all staff joining the team will be required to complete the training within the first two weeks of employment.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2024 to Question 19860 on Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, if she will publish the 2023 assessment.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The assessment carried out in partnership with the Cabinet Office in 2023, was conducted in line with Cabinet Office guidance and was consistent with the options appraisal approach prescribed by HM Treasury.

The information contained within the assessment is commercially sensitive and as such there is no intention to publish the assessment as this may prejudice future procurement exercises.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2024 to Question 19860, Prisons: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the expected performance parameters of private sector providers have changed since these contracts were awarded.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The performance parameters of private sector providers are subject to ongoing contract management and are reviewed and, where appropriate, changed to align with the business requirements.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 16 December 2024 (HL3055), what recent assessment they have made of the value and performance of current prison maintenance service providers.

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

The value and performance of the Department’s private-sector service providers are subject to ongoing contract management, and current performance is in line with expected parameters.

As contracts approach expiry, assessments are conducted to inform decisions about future services. A 2023 assessment in partnership with the Cabinet Office determined that a privatised solution was the preferred option for future prison maintenance services. These contracts will be competitively tendered.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 16 December 2024 (HL3055), what is their timescale for tendering new contracts for prison maintenance service providers.

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

The Government is currently running a competitive tender process that aims to award new contracts for the provision of maintenance services for prisons by December 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to identify all people impacted by the collapse of McClure solicitors.

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

The legal profession in England and Wales operates independently of government. The responsibility for regulating the sector sits with the approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Ministry of Justice to hold or seek to hold the information on people impacted by the collapse of McClure solicitors.

Given the seriousness of the issue raised, my officials have spoken to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, who has confirmed that it is carrying out an investigation into the former partners of WW& J McClure. There are several routes in place to ensure consumers have access to support in the event of the collapse of their solicitor’s law firm.

The Legal Ombudsman deals with service complaints against regulated legal services providers – including those who are no longer operational. Their website provides information with regards to the different routes available for consumers depending on their personal circumstances: Complaining about closed service providers | Legal Ombudsman.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for people being released from prison.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We are committed to ensuring pre-release plans are created for those leaving custody, to ensure their needs are identified early and individual robust plans are in place to address these.

We are working closely with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments on the development of a new cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness, as well as delivering our temporary accommodation service (CAS3), so all offenders leaving prison at risk of homelessness who are supervised by probation are offered up to 12 weeks of accommodation to provide a stable base on release.

We are also working with prisons to improve offenders’ access to purposeful activity, including learning, to improve prisoners’ reading, numeracy and vocational training so that more prisoners are prepared for work on release. In addition, we have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time will bring businesses together with probation and the Department of Work and Pensions to support offenders in the community.

To support prison leavers with a drug or alcohol need, over 50 Health and Justice Partnership Coordinators nationwide are improving links between prison, probation and treatment providers, and we have secure laptops to enable prisoners to meet with community treatment providers virtually, prior to release.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take with probate services to find a solution for cases where there is a chain of representation but the name of the applicant will not match that on the Grant of Probate.

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

A chain of representation arises where all the executors of an estate have died before completing the administration of that estate. Under section 7(1) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 the executor for deceased’s executor becomes the executor for the original incomplete estate as well as the estate they were appointed as executor.

The chain of representation is broken if an executor in the chain has died intestate. In those circumstances a grant of administration de bonis non must be obtained to administer the estate.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service’s probate service will always provide assistance and support in all cases where the chain of representation applies, and where the name of an applicant does not match that on a Grant of Probate.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 33 of the policy paper entitled Plan for Change: Milestones for mission-led government, published on 5 December 2024, CP1210, how she plans to measure success in building confidence in the criminal justice system; and whether she plans to regularly (a) collect and (b) publish victim satisfaction data.

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

We are still developing this pillar of the mission and will say more in due course.

We regularly publish victim engagement data for the criminal justice system in the Criminal Justice System Delivery Data Dashboard. These metrics cover the percentage of investigations closed because the victim does not support police action, cases stopped after a defendant has been charged because a victim no longer supports the prosecution, and cases in which the victim or witness no longer supports prosecution on the day of trial.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department plans to take through the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill to support victims of domestic abuse.

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

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse. In November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected areas to provide more protection for victims, and early this year we will introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms. These are just some of the first steps we are taking to tackle VAWG and improve the justice system response to domestic abuse across England and Wales.

Through the upcoming Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, we have committed to strengthening the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner to further empower them to hold the system to account when the needs of victims, including victims of domestic abuse, are not being met.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted for shoplifting offences reoffended within (a) 12 months and (b) two years in each of the last five years.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The proven reoffending rate for the adult cohort convicted of shoplifting offences between 2017/18 and 2021/22 (the latest year for which reoffending data is available) can be found in the table below, along with the number of offenders and reoffenders included in this cohort. The proven reoffending rate is calculated using a 12-month follow up period.

The proven reoffending methodology is complex and based on a one-year reoffending rate. Providing this information for a new 2-year reoffending measure would be of disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to (a) assess (i) feedback from and (ii) outcomes of and (b) improve literacy programmes for prisoners.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We are evaluating some of the programmes to support literacy delivered by partners and will look to publish an evaluation report later in 2025. We are also improving our understanding of the outcomes of different prison education types, including English courses, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme.

As part of BOLD, there is existing funding to conduct research to explore the relationship between prison education and post-release employment outcomes with findings expected to be published in 2025. All this learning will continue to support our evolving understanding of what more we can do to improve literacy in prisons.

The success of formal literacy education is primarily measured by prisoners ‘achieving’ and getting an accredited qualification; we regularly use this data to ensure good performance. Latest published data (for 2023/24) shows a 5% increase in participation in English functional skills and a 21% increase in prisoner learners who achieved a full in English functional skills, compared to 2022/23.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how she measures the success of literacy programs; and if she will set benchmarks to track progress of those programs.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We are evaluating some of the programmes to support literacy delivered by partners and will look to publish an evaluation report later in 2025. We are also improving our understanding of the outcomes of different prison education types, including English courses, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme.

As part of BOLD, there is existing funding to conduct research to explore the relationship between prison education and post-release employment outcomes with findings expected to be published in 2025. All this learning will continue to support our evolving understanding of what more we can do to improve literacy in prisons.

The success of formal literacy education is primarily measured by prisoners ‘achieving’ and getting an accredited qualification; we regularly use this data to ensure good performance. Latest published data (for 2023/24) shows a 5% increase in participation in English functional skills and a 21% increase in prisoner learners who achieved a full in English functional skills, compared to 2022/23.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will allocate funding to support research on effective literacy interventions for prisoners.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We are evaluating some of the programmes to support literacy delivered by partners and will look to publish an evaluation report later in 2025. We are also improving our understanding of the outcomes of different prison education types, including English courses, through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme.

As part of BOLD, there is existing funding to conduct research to explore the relationship between prison education and post-release employment outcomes with findings expected to be published in 2025. All this learning will continue to support our evolving understanding of what more we can do to improve literacy in prisons.

The success of formal literacy education is primarily measured by prisoners ‘achieving’ and getting an accredited qualification; we regularly use this data to ensure good performance. Latest published data (for 2023/24) shows a 5% increase in participation in English functional skills and a 21% increase in prisoner learners who achieved a full in English functional skills, compared to 2022/23.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers perpetrated further crimes in prison in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation. Data relating to crimes in prison is held across police referral and adjudication records. To be able to identify these cases we would have to access and review all potentially relevant records which would be of disproportionate cost.

The Public Protection Policy Framework and the Unwanted Prisoner Contact Service work to protect victims and prevent offenders, such as domestic abusers, from continuing to carry out crimes such as stalking or coercive controlling behaviour from prison.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers perpetrate domestic abuse against their original victims within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of domestic abusers reoffend within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many domestic abusers are serving prison sentences in England and Wales.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

It is not possible to robustly calculate the number of domestic abusers in prison or their reoffending rate. This is because these crimes are recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, such as intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government is prioritising public protection from, and rehabilitation for, this cohort through measures such as better training for probation officers and improved use of monitoring technology. We have also recently introduced Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, which brings together the strongest elements of existing orders to protect victims.

This Government also ensured that a range of offences linked to domestic abuse have been excluded from the early release programme, unlike the scheme run by the previous Conservative Government. We have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, using every tool available to us to deliver transformative change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people carrying out jury duty do not experience financial hardship.

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

Juries are a vital part of our criminal justice system and undertake an important civic duty. The support provided to jurors includes measures to assist those who may suffer financial hardship. People who are not paid by their employer whilst they are on jury service can claim a loss of earnings allowance from the court, and jurors can apply for a deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16135 on Crown Prosecution Service and with reference to the The Better Case Management Revival Handbook, published in January 2023, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Crown Court consistently manages cases.

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

The management of case progression and listing across the criminal courts is a judicial function. As part of their systemic oversight, the senior judiciary produced (and have subsequently kept under review) a framework of guidance to drive improved performance.

The Better Case Management Revival Handbook, published in January 2023, is intended to remind all criminal justice partners of the principles of Better Case Management (BCM) and to ensure the courts consistently apply them. Chief among the aims is better collaboration between prosecution and defence to drive earlier guilty pleas wherever appropriate, increase trial effectiveness, and reduce the number of hearings per Crown Court case. The Government is working closely with the judiciary and other justice partners to improve adherence to Better Case Management Principles through supporting the Criminal Court Improvement Group (CCIG), which is chaired by the Senior Presiding Judge.

Among other things, we have piloted a new role in certain Crown Court offices – Case Coordinators – who are deployed exclusively to support the local judiciary in driving adherence to the BCM principles. HMCTS also provides the CCIG (and local judicial managers) with data and analytical support to help oversee and manage performance. Most recently, HMCTS has supported a judicially-led review into Crown Court listing practices, which aims to achieve broad alignment of listing approaches and increase the consistency and predictability of case management processes.

Ultimately, the management of cases through the Crown Court is the responsibility of the independent judiciary.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for (a) legal aid and (b) criminal courts.

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

This Government inherited a justice system under enormous strain and a legal aid system facing significant challenges, but we have already started to rebuild the system. On criminal legal aid, in November 2024 we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.

In addition, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system, subject to consultation. This is a significant investment to reflect the valuable and tough work that is undertaken by those who work in the criminal justice system, helping them to make sure justice is served and that victims get the resolution they need.  Alongside consulting on specific solicitor fee uplifts, we are committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession, including the Bar, on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.

On civil legal aid, the Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and debt and immigration legal aid fees this month which would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year once fully implemented. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, and the wider themes from the Review, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to ensure that cases involving members of the House of Lords convicted of serious crimes do not adversely impact public confidence in the criminal justice system.

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

All individuals, including members of the House of Lords, are held to be equal before the law. Decisions on bringing forward charges and prosecutions are for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, and the management of cases through the courts and sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary. Prosecutors have an overriding responsibility to act without fear, favour or prejudice. Therefore, any member of the House of Lords who commits a crime will face the appropriate consequences for their actions in our open and fair criminal justice system, just like any other member of the public.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when her Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Limitation law in child sexual abuse cases, which closed on 10 July 2024.

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

The consultation on limitation law in child sexual abuse cases was held between 15 May 2024 and 10 July 2024. Ministers are currently considering responses to the consultation and a Government response will be issued shortly.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is taking steps to tailor literacy programmes for prisoners (a) with learning disabilities and (b) for whom English is a second language.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to help tackle the (a) stigma and (b) barriers preventing prisoners from participating in literacy programs.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is taking steps to form partnerships with (a) external organisations and (b) volunteers to support literacy initiatives in prisons.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to support the use of (a) technology and (b) digital resources to enhance literacy education in prisons.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to take steps to integrate prisoner literacy programs with other (a) educational and (b) vocational training opportunities.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to ensure that all prisoners have access to high-quality literacy programs.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Reading is a priority for HMPPS, and improving prisoner literacy is a key aim of prison education and plays an important role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. Formal literacy teaching follows national accredited qualifications, which must follow quality standards laid down by awarding organisations.

Education providers are also encouraged to embed learning in vocational training. Engagement is also supported through the delivery of Education for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and all learners are screened for neurodiversity needs and provided with support so that education is tailored, and adjustments (such as providing assistive technology or additional support) are made for those with additional learning needs and/or ESOL.

All prisons have reading strategies, and we have established a national reading panel with external experts to provide advice and challenge as we develop new work in this area. These include representatives from Department for Education, Ofsted, British Dyslexia Association and the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults. Libraries support prisoners in their reading. We also have a long-standing National Reading Working Group that has members from Further Education and the Third Sector.

In terms of improving digital delivery, our in-cell technology programme, Launchpad, has now been provided in 17 prisons which gives prisoners access to resources that support reading and literacy in their cells. Launchpad will be delivered to a further 2 prisons by March 2025, increasing the total number of prisoners with access to around 12,900. Since the 1st of July 2024, the Shannon Trust, ‘Learn to Read’ content series has been accessed by Launchpad users over 5000 times.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of violent offenders reoffend within (a) one year, (b) three years, (c) five years and (d) ten years of conviction.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Offences are recorded on the Police National Computer using the Home Office Classification, which does not allow us to identify whether an offence is ‘violent’ or ‘non-violent’. As a result, it is subsequently not possible to identify violent offenders through digital records. Providing this information would therefore require a manual search of court records and would therefore be of disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people convicted of causing a death have been granted parole before the halfway point in their original sentences in the last year.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

No prisoners are eligible to be considered for release by the Parole Board before the half-way point in their sentence.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of offenders perpetrated further crimes in prison in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Data relating to crimes committed in prison are held in HMPPS’s police referral and adjudications records. To be able to identify all such cases, it would be necessary to review all potentially relevant records, and this could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to introduce specialist rape courts at every Crown Court.

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

We know that, due to the complexity of the cases, victims of rape can wait longer than victims of other offence types for their case to complete in court. We remain committed to delivering our manifesto commitment, where we set out that we will fast-track rape cases, with specialist courts.

The fast-tracking of rape cases has dependencies with, and impacts on, the rest of the criminal justice system, including the wider Crown Court caseload and the capacity of the rape and serious sexual offences specialist legal workforce. We are carefully considering how best to deliver this. We plan to work closely with the judiciary and will be able to say more in due course.

We are committed to supporting victims of rape throughout their journeys through the criminal justice system, including at court. Section 28 has helped victims and witnesses avoid the stress of giving evidence live at trial and improve their evidence, by enabling cross-examination to take place at a separate hearing in advance of the trial. Trauma informed training has now been rolled out at three Crown Courts, to over 400 staff who come into contact with victims at court. We have also been running a one-year pilot through which victims of rape and other sexual offences can request transcripts of the Crown Court sentencing remarks in their case, for free, which will end in May 2025.

We will go further, and as part of our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, we are also introducing specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force and rolling out free, independent legal advocates for victims of adult rape, to advise them at any point from the moment they report.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to tackle the shortage of qualified (a) teachers and (b) staff to provide literacy education in prisons.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The recruitment of qualified teachers is primarily a matter for the prison education providers. HMPPS is working with education providers to reduce teacher vacancies. The vacancy rate for all providers has reduced over the last few months. As of 15 December 2024 it was 4%, reducing from 5% in November 2024 and 7% in October 2024.

HMPPS has contractual levers in place to ensure that literacy courses are delivered, with financial penalties for non-delivery. Providers must deliver 95% of commissioned courses due to vacancies, or take a 2% financial penalty. We also do not pay for any commissioned education which is not delivered.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers reported abuse by offenders in (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Abuse of prison officers by prisoners is taken very seriously, and will never be tolerated. It is comprehensively recorded through various mechanisms, including internal reports, disciplinary records, and external investigations. The goal of these systems is to ensure the safety and security of staff, while also managing the behaviour of prisoners within the system. As the information is collected in a variety of formats, collating it would be a labour-intensive process, which could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.

Attacks on prison officers are taken very seriously, and they are treated equally with assaults on the police and other emergency service workers under the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act (Offences) 2018. Since June 2022, the maximum penalty for those who assault emergency workers, which covers prison officers, has now doubled.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the average processing times for deputyship applications by the Court of Protection.

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

Data on the average processing time for deputyship applications, from receipt to disposal by the Court of Protection, is not currently available.

The court has recently migrated to a new case management system and work is in hand as part of the HMCTS data strategy to develop management information data.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) programmes and (b) interventions are used to reduce reoffending among domestic abusers in prison; and what the reoffending rates are among prisoners who participate.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Prison and Probation Service currently offers five Accredited Programmes that may be undertaken by those convicted of domestic abuse offences. These are the Building Better Relationships programme, Becoming New Me +, New Me Strengths, Building Choices (available in prisons and probation), and Kaizen (available in prisons only). These programmes may also be undertaken by offenders with a range of offending types, however, so it is not possible to provide re-offending outcomes specifically in relation to domestic abusers.

Accredited Programmes more generally are well-evidenced. Most international reviews indicate that programmes reduce reoffending generally by about 20% to 30%.

In addition to Accredited Programmes, a number of approved interventions are also delivered by HMPPS and other partners, including Third Sector organisations. The National Framework for Interventions Policy Framework - GOV.UK sets out the minimum design standards for these types of interventions.

Structured Interventions are available as a sentence of the court, by inclusion in a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. They are part of a set of interventions delivered by regional interventions teams in the community. Those which focus specifically on domestic abuse include Stepwise Relationships, Positive Pathways Plus, Help, and Developing Assertiveness for Women in Relationships.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) programmes and (b) interventions are used to reduce reoffending among domestic abusers in the community; and what the reoffending rates are among people who participate.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Prison and Probation Service currently offers five Accredited Programmes that may be undertaken by those convicted of domestic abuse offences. These are the Building Better Relationships programme, Becoming New Me +, New Me Strengths, Building Choices (available in prisons and probation), and Kaizen (available in prisons only). These programmes may also be undertaken by offenders with a range of offending types, however, so it is not possible to provide re-offending outcomes specifically in relation to domestic abusers.

Accredited Programmes more generally are well-evidenced. Most international reviews indicate that programmes reduce reoffending generally by about 20% to 30%.

In addition to Accredited Programmes, a number of approved interventions are also delivered by HMPPS and other partners, including Third Sector organisations. The National Framework for Interventions Policy Framework - GOV.UK sets out the minimum design standards for these types of interventions.

Structured Interventions are available as a sentence of the court, by inclusion in a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. They are part of a set of interventions delivered by regional interventions teams in the community. Those which focus specifically on domestic abuse include Stepwise Relationships, Positive Pathways Plus, Help, and Developing Assertiveness for Women in Relationships.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate she has made of when the Independent Review of Sentencing will be complete.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

This Sentencing Review is chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke and aims to ensure that there is always a place in prison for violent offenders.

The Review launched on Tuesday 22 October 2024 and is estimated to run for six months. We therefore expect that the review will report in Spring 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Prison pathfinder meetings are provided with intelligence risk assessments on the release of prisoners that could pose a threat to national security.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The improvements being made to the Pathfinder process, to further enhance our ability to make informed decisions about offenders who pose national security risks, are set out in the Ministry of Justice’s response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report by H M Coroner, following the inquest into deaths resulting from the terror attack in Forbury Gardens, Reading (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-0276-Response-from-Ministry-of-Justice.pdf). In addition, new guidance and templates have been produced for prison security departments to improve the quality and detail of the intelligence assessments that inform pre-release planning under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions her Department has had with the independent Sentencing Council for England and Wales on the adequacy of sentencing guidelines for child sexual offences in (a) reflecting the severity of the crime and (b) preventing reoffending.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Child sexual abuse and exploitation are the most horrific of crimes and the Government is determined to act to strengthen the law in this area. This is why we have committed to legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, to ensure that this behaviour is reflected in the sentencing of perpetrators.  We will also make it a mandatory duty for those working with children to report child sexual abuse – a key recommendation of Professor Alexis Jay’s report – and this will go into the Crime and Policing Bill due to be introduced to Parliament this spring.

As set out in previous responses, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales is independent of Parliament and Government. It therefore decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing sentencing guidelines. Sentencing guidelines for child sex offences, including for the offence of meeting a child following sexual grooming, were first published by the Council in 2013. Following consultation, revised guidelines for some child sex offences were published and came into force in May 2022.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requesting the Sentencing Council for England and Wales produce guidelines on the sentencing of grooming gangs.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Child sexual abuse and exploitation are the most horrific of crimes and the Government is determined to act to strengthen the law in this area. This is why we have committed to legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, to ensure that this behaviour is reflected in the sentencing of perpetrators.  We will also make it a mandatory duty for those working with children to report child sexual abuse – a key recommendation of Professor Alexis Jay’s report – and this will go into the Crime and Policing Bill due to be introduced to Parliament this spring.

As set out in previous responses, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales is independent of Parliament and Government. It therefore decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing sentencing guidelines. Sentencing guidelines for child sex offences, including for the offence of meeting a child following sexual grooming, were first published by the Council in 2013. Following consultation, revised guidelines for some child sex offences were published and came into force in May 2022.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of custodial sentences for child sexual offences in preventing reoffending.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Child sexual abuse and exploitation are the most horrific of crimes and the Government is determined to act to strengthen the law in this area. This is why we have committed to legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences, to ensure that this behaviour is reflected in the sentencing of perpetrators.  We will also make it a mandatory duty for those working with children to report child sexual abuse – a key recommendation of Professor Alexis Jay’s report – and this will go into the Crime and Policing Bill due to be introduced to Parliament this spring.

As set out in previous responses, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales is independent of Parliament and Government. It therefore decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and reviewing sentencing guidelines. Sentencing guidelines for child sex offences, including for the offence of meeting a child following sexual grooming, were first published by the Council in 2013. Following consultation, revised guidelines for some child sex offences were published and came into force in May 2022.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the recall to prison programme.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government’s absolute focus is on public protection. Offenders on licence can be swiftly recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions in such a way as to indicate that their risk to the public has increased and they are about to commit further offences. The recall of an offender to custody is an important public protection measure. We remain focused on reducing reoffending and the risks presented by offenders, so that they do not need to be recalled in the first place.

The HMI Probation Thematic Report on Probation Recall Culture & Practice, published in 2020, found that: “Public protection and the protection of victims are central to probation service decision-making on recall.”

We continue to work across Government to ensure that we take the necessary steps to reduce the recall population and keep the system functioning safely, whilst protecting the public which is our top priority.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of ineffective Crown Court trials which started after day one of the set trial date in 2024 reached completion.

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

Of all Crown Court trials that were ineffective between January and September 2024, 21% were subsequently effective on a later date (up to the end of September 2024). The remainder will include trials listed for a date beyond the end of September 2024, as well as those cases no longer requiring a trial date (for example the defendant has pleaded guilty).

Of all ineffective trials that subsequently started between January and September 2024, 80% had reached conclusion by the end of September 2024.

These data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics. The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information. Recent data are especially vulnerable to quality checking and so may be subject to change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of ineffective trials in the Crown Court started later than day one of the set trial date in 2024.

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

Of all Crown Court trials that were ineffective between January and September 2024, 21% were subsequently effective on a later date (up to the end of September 2024). The remainder will include trials listed for a date beyond the end of September 2024, as well as those cases no longer requiring a trial date (for example the defendant has pleaded guilty).

Of all ineffective trials that subsequently started between January and September 2024, 80% had reached conclusion by the end of September 2024.

These data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics. The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information. Recent data are especially vulnerable to quality checking and so may be subject to change.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether trials in the Crown Court starting on day two or later are classified as ineffective.

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

If the trial does not go ahead on the scheduled day of listing due to action or inaction by the prosecution, the defence or the court (see list of reasons in table below), and a further listing for trial is required, it is termed ‘ineffective.’

Where a trial is not ready to go ahead, it is recorded as ineffective and listed again, either for the following day, or if not possible, for some future date agreed by the court. If the trial starts on the second day, it will then be marked as effective. However, if it is still unable to proceed on the second day, it will be marked as ineffective again.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what metrics determine whether a Crown Court trial is classified as ineffective.

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

If the trial does not go ahead on the scheduled day of listing due to action or inaction by the prosecution, the defence or the court (see list of reasons in table below), and a further listing for trial is required, it is termed ‘ineffective.’

Where a trial is not ready to go ahead, it is recorded as ineffective and listed again, either for the following day, or if not possible, for some future date agreed by the court. If the trial starts on the second day, it will then be marked as effective. However, if it is still unable to proceed on the second day, it will be marked as ineffective again.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time is between a complaint being (a) received and (b) logged at the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber – Residential Property).

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

Administrative complaints uploaded into the HMCTS complaints handling system direct from the gov.uk online complaints portal are logged immediately automatically. These constitute the vast majority of administrative complaints received by the tribunal. Complaints received by other methods (e.g. phone, email, post) require manual entry and we do not hold timeliness information on the logging of these. The target for the first response to administrative complaints is ten working days.

Hold an inquiry

All foreign born criminals serving sentences in our prisons, or released back onto our streets, to be deported back to their own countries.

I would like the Government to reinstate the early release of prisoners who are serving sentences for certain serious crimes, half-way through their sentence, instead of after two thirds of their sentence.

I believe it should be a crime for a person to purposely delay ringing the emergency services in a medical emergency. I would like the Government to introduce legislation to make this a crime.

We would like standardised DA Training to be Mandatory for All Family Law Professionals, and for the Government to provide funding for this, and to enforce this requirement.

We urge the Government to allow and require anyone working as a nanny, tutor, or babysitter to have a valid enhanced DBS check before beginning their role. We think by doing this we can create a safer environment for children.

Found: organisations (MROs) and direct medical experts (DME) against specific qualifying criteria (QC) set by MoJ

Found: Family Justice Observatory (2024), https://www.nuffieldfjo.org.uk/news/data-released-by- the-ministry-of-justice-shows

Found: next 12 months, the Department should work with others including local authorities and the Ministry of Justice

Found: The Chair: What is your confidence level within the MoJ?

Found: What we are not happy with is being part of the MoJ. HMPPS does not work.

Found: collaboration encouraged structurally across relevant agencies at the national level, including the Ministry of Justice

Found: collaboration encouraged structurally across relevant agencies at the national level, including the Ministry of Justice

Found: DSIT is working with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to identify the most appropriate legislative

Found: collaboration encouraged structurally across relevant agencies at the national level, including the Ministry of Justice

Found: available opportunities which will improve future outcomes and presents us with real concern. 9 YJB-MoJ

Found: environment is akin to “redesigning the jet engine while it is in flight”’ to use the Ministry of Justice’s [MoJ

Found: The Ministry of Justice should publish an expected timeframe for when the data issue will be addressed

Found: Departmental Expenditure Limit for HMCTS amounted to £2,277.9m for 2023-2024.2 CILEX notes that the total MoJ

Found: evidence showing increasing numbers of people held on remand and time spent on remand thereafter (Ministry of Justice

Found: 6.25, 6th Floor 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ E Nick.Goodwin2@justice.gov.uk www.gov.uk/moj

Found: Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice holds data on tribunals related to EHC plans.

Found: The Ministry of Justice ( MoJ) Construction Commercial Team , given its considerable experience of

Found: Letter from the Minister for Courts and Legal Services at the Ministry of Justice relating to the consultation

Found: Letter from the Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice relating to the uplifts to criminal legal

Found: An example of how this works in practice is our joint work with the Ministry of Justice and Probation

Found: Ministry of Justice, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Ministry of Justice, and HM Courts and Tribunals

Found: Correspondence from Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice & Parliamentary Under-Secretary

Found: We work very closely with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Social

Found: T 020 3334 3555 F 0870 761 7753 E https://contact -moj.service.justice.gov.uk/ www.gov.uk/moj 102

Found: As part of the implementation of the legislation, the Ministry of Justice, Northern Irish Exec- utive

Found: There is other work that we have also been doing with the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice as

Found: progress with the government’s data linking project between the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16197 on Prisoners’ Release: Homelessness, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Justice to monitor levels of homelessness of people released under the SDS40 early release scheme.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Data on the number of prisoners released under SDS40 who were released homeless is retained locally at each prison. Ministry of Justice is currently collating data relating to the September and October SDS40 release dates and this will be published in due course.

MHCLG collects and regularly publishes management information from local authorities on rough sleeping. The most recent data, for September, was published here on 28 November. The management information includes the number of people seen sleeping rough following release from prison.

MHCLG collect information on duties owed to those have been in custody through the homelessness case level collection (H-CLIC) on a quarterly basis and the figures for April to June are published here. This data will be used to monitor the impact of the SDS release scheme on homelessness levels, once received.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people with a criminal record to find employment.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government understands the challenges a criminal record can bring to finding a job and also recognises that employment significantly reduces the risk of reoffending.

The recently published Get Britain Working White Paper sets out Government’s proposals to reform employment, health and skills support to tackle economic inactivity. This includes support for people with a criminal conviction.

DWP provides a range of support to help ex-offenders find employment. This includes around 200 prison work coaches based in prisons across Great Britain who provide employment, training, and benefit support before release. Upon release, our jobcentre work coaches can offer individually tailored employment and training support, including access to DWP employment programmes such as Restart and Sector-based Work Academies.

DWP’s Strategic Relationship Team works with around 300 national employers and partners, and 80 trade associations across a wide range of labour market sectors to generate employment opportunities for claimants including ex-offenders. The Civil Service wide Social Mobility Recruitment Schemes such as Going Forward into Employment provide fixed-term appointment opportunities within the Civil Service for people who face barriers to work, including ex-offenders.

The National Partnership Agreement between MoJ, DWP and the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) sets out how we are jointly driving rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. This includes DWP working alongside HMPPS’s New Futures Network, which brokers partnerships between prisons and employers in developing local agreements to enhance joined-up working for continuity of support on release. I refer the Hon. Member to the previous parliamentary question response 18064 on 9 December from Sir Nicholas Dakin.

A criminal record should not be a barrier to finding stable employment and having a positive future. Employers are encouraged to delay disclosure of convictions during job applications through the ‘Ban the Box’ scheme to give people with a criminal record a better chance to show their suitability and commitment to a job role. DWP is a proud member of the scheme.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of Serious Crime Prevention Orders.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

Serious Crime Prevention Orders are a powerful tool for preventing and disrupting the activities of the highest-harm criminals involved in serious crime. However, the orders are not currently being used to maximum effect. Between 2011 and 2021, only two applications were made to the High Court for an SCPO in the absence of a conviction, of which only one was successful, compared to a total of 1,057 SCPOs being made in the Crown Court on conviction in the same period. This is significantly lower than Parliament anticipated when it introduced SCPOs in the Serious Crime Act 2007.

As announced on 2^nd January, the Government is seeking to improve the SCPO regime by introducing new interim SCPOs. Currently, securing an SCPO on suspects, including people smugglers, can be a complex and lengthy process. Interim orders will speed up the process for placing restrictions on people under investigation so as to prevent, deter and disrupt serious and organised crime, including people smuggling. These new interim orders will allow the National Crime Agency, the police and other law enforcement agencies to apply directly to the High Court to impose immediate restrictions whilst a full order is considered. The Government will bring forward further measures to improve the functioning of SCPOs in due course.

These figures are experimental, based on HMCTS management information and are not equivalent to official statistics published by the Ministry of Justice.

The Explanatory Notes to the 2007 Act state that “the main route for making an order will be an application to the High Court”. In addition, at Lords Committee Stage of the Serious Crime Bill, Baroness Scotland of Asthal stated that operational partners had indicated that there may be 25 or 30 such orders – see Hansard, Volume 690, 7 March 2007: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2007-03-07/debates/07030790000002/SeriousCrimeBill(HL)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to support fraud victims throughout the recovery process.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government is committed to tackling fraud and supporting the victims of fraud.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) superintends the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The CPS is responsible for prosecuting fraud, among other criminal offences, which is primarily investigated by the police in England and Wales. The SFO investigates and prosecutes the most serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption.

The CPS continues to implement its Economic Crime Strategy 2025 which includes ensuring victims and witnesses are at the heart of every case. In September 2021, the CPS developed guidance focused on prosecutors’ engagement with victims of fraud, improving the experience of victims through close work with investigators to have a joint victim and witness engagement strategy from the outset of a case.

More broadly, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is currently developing a new version of the Victims’ Code, which is a practical and useful guide for all victims of crime, including victims of fraud. The CPS and SFO are actively engaging with them on this. The CPS is also working closely with the MoJ to support the delivery of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.

The SFO has a dedicated Victim and Witness Care Unit which looks after the needs of victims in all its cases and delivers its obligations in line with the current Victims’ Code.

The SFO also provides bespoke information on relevant support services and makes referrals for ongoing support to local Police and Crime Commissioner commissioned victim services on behalf of victims. It also has a tailored needs assessment process which takes into account the length of time SFO investigations can take, and keeps victims updated via the SFO’s website and individually on the investigation, including on matters such as appeals and ongoing proceeds of crime recovery processes. A dedicated witness care officer will also attend court to be with witnesses for the duration of a trial.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide a list of all Civil Service committees that exercise management functions in relation to the Civil Service, including the membership of each committee; and what changes, if any, have been made to the Civil Service Governance Framework since the publication in November 2023 of the Independent Review of Governance and Accountability in the Civil Service by Lord Maude of Horsham.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

A review was carried out in April 2024 that resulted in the streamlining of civil service governance structures and fora.

Current Civil Service committees that exercise management functions in relation to the Civil Service include the:

• Civil Service Board

• People Board

• Civil Service Operations Board

• Location and Property Board

• Data and Digital Board

• Senior Leadership Committee

Membership of these committees are as follows:

Civil Service Board:

• Cat Little CB (Chair - CS Chief Operating Officer, Cabinet Office)

• Sir Chris Wormald (Cabinet Secretary, Cabinet Office)

• Tamara Finkelstein CB (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs)

• Dame Bernadette Kelly (Department for Transport)

• Sir Matthew Rycroft (Home Office)

• Sir Peter Schofield (Department for Work and Pensions)

• Dame Antonia Romeo (Ministry of Justice)

• Sarah Healey CB CVO (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

• James Bowler CB (HM Treasury)

• Sir Philip Barton (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)

• John Paul Marks (Scottish Government)

• David Williams CB (Ministry of Defence)

• Jeremy Pocklington CB (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

People Board:

• Sarah Healey (Chair - Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

• Fiona Ryland (Government Chief People Officer, Cabinet Office)

• Sir Philip Barton (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)

• Sir Jim Harra ( HM Revenue & Customs)

• Gareth Davies (Department for Business and Trade)

• Dr Andrew Goodall (Welsh Government)

• Susan Acland-Hood (Department for Education)

• Sarah Munby (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Beth Russell (HM Treasury)

• Phil Swallow (Home Office, Non Executive Board Member)

• Professor Dame Angela McLean (Government Office for Science)

• Susannah Storey (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Civil Service Operations Board:

• Cat Little (Chair - CS Chief Operating Officer, Cabinet Office)

• Joanne Davidson (Digital and Data)

• Marco Salzedo / Clare Gibbs (Commercial)

• Conrad Smewing / James McEwen (Finance)

• Fiona Ryland (People)

• Nick Smallwood (Project Delivery)

• Tara Smith (Department for Business and Trade)

• Nina Cope (Ministry of Defence)

• Justin Holliday (HM Revenue and Customs)

• Debbie Alder (Department for Work and Pensions)

• Jane Cunliffe (Department for Education)

Location and Property Board:

• Jeremy Pocklington CB (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero - Chair)

• Angela MacDonald (HM Revenue and Customs)

• Susan Acland-Hood (Department for Education)

• Peter Schofield (Department for Work and Pensions)

• Sarah Munby (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Antonia Romeo (Department of Justice)

• John-Paul Marks (Scotland Office)

• Nick Joyce (Department For Transport)

• David Kuenssberg (Home Office)

• Catherine Webb (HM Treasury)

• Damian Paterson (Government Legal Department)

• Sarah Harrison (Cabinet Office)

• Nina Cope (Ministry of Defence)

• Sarah Homer (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)

• Catherine Vaughan (Department for Business and Trade)

• Juliet Chua (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)

Data and Digital Board:

• Sarah Munby (Chair - Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

• Joanna Davinson (Government Chief Digital Officer)

• Sir Ian Diamond (Office of National Statistics)

• Jim Harra (HM Revenue and Customs)

• Susan Acland-Hood (Department for Education)

• Peter Schofield (Department for Work and Pensions)

• Matthew Rycroft (Home Office)

• Paul Lincoln (Ministry of Defence)

• Megan Lee Devlin (Ministry of Justice)

• Conrad Smewing (HM Treasury)

• Bella Powell (Government Security Group)

• Doug Gurr (Non-Executive Board Member, Department for Health and Social Care)

• Paul Willmott (Non-Executive Board Member, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Senior Leadership Committee:

• Dame Antonia Romeo (Chair - Ministry of Justice)

• Sir Chris Wormald (Cabinet Secretary, Cabinet Office)

• Cat Little - (CS Chief Operating Officer, Cabinet Office)

• Sarah Healey (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

• James Bowler (HM Treasury)

• Sir Philip Barton (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)

• Fiona Ryland (Government Chief People Officer, Cabinet Office)

• Baroness Gisela Stuart (First Civil Service Commissioner)

• Tamara Finkelstein (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs)

• Dame Bernadette Kelly (Department for Transport)

• Brian McBride (Lead Non Executive Board Member, MoD)

• Sir Matthew Rycroft (Home Office)

• Sir Peter Schofield (Department for Work and Pensions)

• David Williams (Ministry of Defence)

Found: government, including the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care, and the Ministry of Justice

Found: Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) was working closely with officials in the Ministry of Justice

Found: government, including the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care, and the Ministry of Justice

Found: Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) was working closely with officials in the Ministry of Justice

Found: Letter from Lord Leong to Baroness Brinton and others regarding Home Office and Ministry of Justice engagement

Found: a large scale without an understanding of whether the market was capable of delivering The Ministry of Justice

Found: Scheduled: Autumn 2025 Topics: Crime, justice and law, Prisons and probation Departments: Ministry of Justice

Found: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office (HO) and Ministry of Justice

Found: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office (HO) and Ministry of Justice

Found: www.nio.gov.uk The Northern Ireland Office aligns with the terms and conditions of the Ministry of Justice

Found: The Northern Ireland Office aligns with the terms and conditions of the Ministry of Justice and the pay

Found: The Northern Ireland Office uses the MoJ pay ranges and those for Bands A – F for 2016 can be found at

Found: The information within the scope for your request is published on GOV.UK as part of the Ministry of Justice

Found: action plan to engage voluntary, community, and social enterprise sectors in its supply chain Ministry of Justice

Found: Research from the Ministry of Justice shows that 90% of businesses that employ ex-offenders agreed that

Found: entitlements of victims of ASB to ensure that victims can access the support available t o them, the MoJ

Found: From: Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Alex Davies-Jones MP and The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP

Found: (MOJ) are collaborating together in a cluster to achieve the Government's Shared Services Strategy

Found: (MOJ) are collaborating together in a cluster to achieve the Government's Shared Services Strategy

Found: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has the third largest portfolio in terms of number of projects, but is

Found: (MoJ) on the allocation of funding for 2025/26 and a future multi-year settlement.1 This made

Found: Recommendation 9 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) regularly publishes prosecutions and convictions data

Found: crime commissioners and mayor equivalents, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the Ministry of Justice

Found: London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority [2018] UKEAT/0116/17/LA and McCloud and others v Ministry of Justice

Found: Rainfed Crop Areas around the year 2000 MOC Manual for Official Controls MoD Ministry of Defence MoJ

Found: representations are normally made on her behalf by the Public Protection Casework Section of the Ministry of Justice

Found: effectiveness of the work of probation, and youth offending services across England and Wales to Ministry of Justice

Found: From: HM Prison and Probation Service and Ministry of Justice Published 31 December 2018 Last updated