Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36526 on Legal Ombudsman, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) resolve complaint cases awaiting investigation for more than four years; and whether the Legal Ombudsman has a procedure for prioritising those cases where delay may cause further harm to the complainant.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The legal profession in England and Wales, together with its regulators, operate independently of government. The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) is the independent body responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) Scheme and the Legal Services Board (LSB), in its role as oversight regulator, has statutory duties in relation to monitoring the OLC.
My officials have engaged with the LeO, which has advised that, at present, it has no complaints that have been waiting four or more years for allocation for investigation. There are two cases where initial contact with the LeO occurred over four years ago, but where enquiries were either premature (not previously responded to by the legal provider, as required by legislation) or lacked sufficient information to proceed.
The LeO has also advised it operates a policy for prioritising cases where a continued delay is likely to have an adverse impact on the complainant, such as cases involving vulnerability, significant medical issues or a required reasonable adjustment.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the (a) Home Secretary and (b) Minister for Women and Equalities on (i) level of funding and (ii) future sustainability for the holistic advocacy wrap around service provided by Southall Black Sisters.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
All 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. This includes ‘core’ funding for victims of all crime types and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. PCCs allocate funding locally at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support services to meet the need of victims in their area. Such services will include specialist organisations like the Southall Black Sisters.
The Ministry of Justice is not involved in local commissioning decisions.
Ministry of Justice officials engage regularly with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime regarding their grant funding and locally commissioned services.
I co-chair the Violence Against Women and Girls Board joint ministerial group with the Home Office Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls. This board is attended by other government departments that are working together on the VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime on (a) level of funding and (b) future sustainability for the holistic advocacy wrap around service provided by Southall Black Sisters.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
All 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. This includes ‘core’ funding for victims of all crime types and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. PCCs allocate funding locally at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need. PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support services to meet the need of victims in their area. Such services will include specialist organisations like the Southall Black Sisters.
The Ministry of Justice is not involved in local commissioning decisions.
Ministry of Justice officials engage regularly with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime regarding their grant funding and locally commissioned services.
I co-chair the Violence Against Women and Girls Board joint ministerial group with the Home Office Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls. This board is attended by other government departments that are working together on the VAWG strategy.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of Palestine Action members who have been acquitted by a jury for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data collated by the Ministry of Justice regarding the activity of the criminal court does not identify if a defendant is a Palestine Action member or if the offence was for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 June 2025 on Security, HCWS729, whether any Palestine Action members have been acquitted by a jury for those activities.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data collated by the Ministry of Justice regarding the activity of the criminal court does not identify if a defendant is a Palestine Action member or if the offence was for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many (a) current and b) pending court cases a Palestine Action member is facing charges for protests against arms sales to Israel.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data collated by the Ministry of Justice regarding the activity of the criminal court does not identify if a defendant is a Palestine Action member or if the offence was for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) current and (b) pending court cases there are on activities listed in her Written Statement of 23 June 2025 on Security, HCWS729.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data collated by the Ministry of Justice regarding the activity of the criminal court does not identify if a defendant is a Palestine Action member or if the offence was for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of convictions for the offence of assault against an emergency worker in 2024 were in relation to incidents in which the victim was a police officer.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and convictions across England and Wales 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. The data tool includes the number of convictions for an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in 2024.
Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
The Ministry of Justice does not centrally record the specific occupation of the victim of an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 so it is not possible, without disproportionate cost, to state the proportion of emergency worker victims who were police officers, or the number or proportion of women convicted of an assault on a police officer under the 2018 Act offence.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of convictions of women for the offence of assault against an emergency worker in 2024 related to an incident where the victim was a police officer.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and convictions across England and Wales 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. The data tool includes the number of convictions for an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in 2024.
Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
The Ministry of Justice does not centrally record the specific occupation of the victim of an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 so it is not possible, without disproportionate cost, to state the proportion of emergency worker victims who were police officers, or the number or proportion of women convicted of an assault on a police officer under the 2018 Act offence.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people convicted for the offence of assault against an emergency worker in 2024 were women.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and convictions across England and Wales 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. The data tool includes the number of convictions for an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in 2024.
Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
The Ministry of Justice does not centrally record the specific occupation of the victim of an offence under section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 so it is not possible, without disproportionate cost, to state the proportion of emergency worker victims who were police officers, or the number or proportion of women convicted of an assault on a police officer under the 2018 Act offence.