Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to help improve victims’ confidence in the justice system.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We are putting victims first with a record £550 million investment in specialist support services over the next three years, alongside reforms to ensure our justice system delivers swift, fair justice.
We will soon be consulting on a new Victims’ Code which, once launched, will help to ensure victims know their rights.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on supporting the victims of cross-border grooming gangs.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to working closely with the Scottish Government to strengthen protections for victims of cross-border grooming gangs.
We have accepted all 12 recommendations of Baroness Casey’s report, ensuring a comprehensive, victim focused response to tackling group-based child sexual exploitation.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to reduce the potential impact of construction traffic on villages in Mid Buckinghamshire constituency during the construction of the new Category C prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are committed to delivering crucial new prison places in Buckinghamshire and are working constructively with Buckinghamshire Council to agree how to manage construction traffic.
We have committed to making improvements to a key junction and funding will be provided to improve local bus services.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the transparency of sentencing.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government is committed to transparency in our courts and tribunals, and I know the judiciary are too.
Last month we announced that we are expanding free access to sentencing remarks to all victims whose case is sentenced in the Crown Court.
This is a landmark moment for transparency and open justice, and a meaningful improvement for victims across the country.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to prevent mistaken prisoner releases.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Releases in error are never acceptable, and we are bearing down on those errors that do occur. Following the release in error of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford, we took immediate steps to make the processes that take place when a prisoner is released more robust. This includes implementing a clear checklist for governors to determine that every step has been followed before any release takes place.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced this Government’s five-point action plan to address the causes of releases in error. This includes an urgent query process with a dedicated unit and court experts to allow prisons to quickly escalate warrant-related queries and reduce release errors, a multi-million pound investment to deploy digital tools and upgrade outdated paper-based processes, and an independent review into the recent errors and systemic issues, with recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that child sex offenders are separated in prisons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Safety in prisons is a key priority. We are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible for those who live and work in them. Safe prisons are vital to enable prisoners to engage in rehabilitative activities that reduce re-offending. Staff are trained to identify where a prisoner may be at risk, and to be able to take appropriate action in response.
A number of reception prisons have specific units for people convicted of sexual offences. In addition to this, a number of other prisons have particular arrangements for vulnerable prisoners – a category which includes, but is not limited to, people convicted of sex offences.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people being held in prisons in England and Wales have not been found guilty in a court.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the untried remand population in custody in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication. This data can be found in Population Table 1_Q_2 of OMSQ: Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff are employed at each of the prisons in Wales; and how many of those staff are Welsh speakers.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of staff and self-reported Welsh language speakers in each Welsh prison can be found in the table below:
| Welsh Speaking | Non-Welsh Speaking | Unknown | Total |
Swansea | 23 | 27 | 274 | 324 |
Berwyn | 28 | 80 | 640 | 748 |
Cardiff | 14 | 42 | 361 | 417 |
Usk/Prescoed | 10 | 53 | 190 | 253 |
Total | 75 | 202 | 1,465 | 1,742 |
Headcount of staff in post on 30 September 2025.
Whether staff can speak Welsh is a self-reported variable, with the vast majority of staff not reporting this information, so the true numbers of Welsh speakers is likely to be higher.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 26 January (HL13694), why prisoners from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are not recorded in the table attached to that Answer.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In accordance with the Office of National Statistics Census definitions (also reflected within the more detailed prisoner ethnicity data published as part of our Offender Management Statistics “Prison Population” annual tables), the 'Irish Traveller or Gypsy' and 'Roma' groups are counted as part of the "White" ethnicity group.
The ethnicity grouping presented in the table is consistent with that published quarterly for the prison population in Offender Management Statistics, for comparability.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether national guidance permits (a) police forces and (b) local authority Children’s Services to facilitate a material change in a child’s place of residence without prior court authorisation where one parent with parental responsibility has refused consent.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to protecting children from harm. The Children Act 1989 sets out specific duties for local authorities to provide services to children in their area if they are in need and to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm.
Under Section 46 of the Children Act 1989, police may only facilitate a change in a child’s place of residence despite the refusal of a parent with parental responsibility if a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, by exercising Police Protection Powers. In this case, police may only remove a child or keep a child in a safe place for a maximum 72 hours before requiring a court authorisation to sustain the separation from their parent with parental responsibility.
There are already clear expectations that the local authority brings the matter before the family court within the 72-hour time limit, ensuring judicial oversight of continued change in a child’s place of residence.
Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities can also change a child’s place of residence with the consent of all people that hold parental responsibility for that child.
Whether an application is made prior to or after a child's change of residence, the Government recognises that involvement in family court proceedings, including when children are moved for safeguarding purposes, can be a distressing experience for the families involved. That is why the Department for Education has funded research, conducted by Birkbeck university, into the experiences of parents, children and special guardians involved in public law family court proceedings, as well as a policy and literature review of advice and information materials available to parties. The report setting out their findings and recommendations can be found here: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/56714/.
The Government welcomes this report and takes the experiences of children and families in the family court system seriously.