Oral Answers to Questions

Jake Richards Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jake Richards)]

The Government are reforming the family justice system to support families and children better. We are rolling out the child-focused model nationally and legislating for new child safety measures to ensure that child welfare continues to be prioritised, and in due course we will publish a cross-system family justice strategy.

[Ben Maguire]

The ex-partner of one of my constituents is subject to a non-molestation order and has been charged with stalking. He repeatedly withdraws consent from school and medical decisions made about their child, forcing my constituent to pay a solicitor to apply to court each time; he will then back down shortly before the hearing. My constituent just misses out on legal aid, owing to her earnings, most of which now go on legal fees. How are the Government reforming the family law courts to prevent such abuse?

[Jake Richards]

We are introducing new types of order, which will come with legal aid, to allow constituents like the hon. Gentleman’s to be represented without having to venture into their own personal finances. However, we must also make the family court system work much more efficiently, because part of the problem is the number of delays and the countless hearings that victims have to go through simply to protect their families and their children. We will have rolled out the child-focused model across the country by 2029, and in due course we will produce a family justice strategy that will go further on ensuring a more productive and efficient family court system.

[Ian Sollom]

The Ministry’s own figures show that care cases are again slowing down in the family courts; just over a third hit the 26-week statutory limit for completion. The Minister has said that the family justice strategy will be a priority for the Government, and will be produced before the end of the year. Will it include a timetable for reversing this decline relating to care cases, and will he report back to Parliament?

[Jake Richards]

Of course I will report back to Parliament on progress, as and when appropriate. We want to drive down the time that it takes for public family proceedings to conclude. The 26-week statutory target is currently being missed, and that is not good enough. We have introduced measures; the Minister with responsibility for children and families, my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), is reforming some of the child social care arrangements. We believe that that will help to shorten and hopefully reduce the need for proceedings, and that will help us to deal with the demand, but the hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue, and we are on it.

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Minister for meeting one of my constituents recently to hear at first hand about the devastating impact that family court failings have had on her family, but the heartbreaking truth is that I could have chosen from many. All too often, inappropriate, failing processes and long delays cause real trauma. They drive up the risks to which young people are exposed, and exacerbate the already high legal costs for all parties involved. If we drive forward crucial family court reforms, can we make sure that our courts finally serve the young people and families who rely on them?

[Jake Richards]

My hon. Friend has raised this issue on a number of occasions, and it was really important to meet him, his constituent and her children to discuss that horrific case and the effect that it has had on them. Ultimately, there were two real problems facing his constituents. One was a court system that was struggling with demand, and that made administrative errors that had a real impact on the family. Secondly, the system simply was not working with them, or appreciating the harm that they were suffering. We have to look at the quality but also at the nature of the court process for victims, and we continue to do that.

[Matthew Patrick (Wirral West) (Lab)]

I would like to ask about my constituent Ranem. When a family court told her that her son could not be taken out of the country, she believed it was safe for Ibrahim to be with his father, but it was not safe. Four years ago this week, he was abducted by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia, and Ranem has not seen him since. How can we ensure a better system, in which, when the courts make an order, ports know about it and enforce it, so that mothers do not have to go through what Ranem is going through?

[Jake Richards]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this horrific case; I will meet him outside the Chamber to discuss it in more detail and see what we can do. This is all about sharing information between the family courts, the Home Office, border security and the Foreign Office. My hon. Friend the Victims Minister, the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones), is responsible for the mutual recognition of orders across borders. This will be difficult in some types of countries, but we have to make progress on ensuring that protective orders carry weight across borders, because these cases often cross jurisdictions. I will meet my hon. Friend to discuss the specifics of this case, and I hope to assist in any way that I can.

[Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

4. How many prisoners released under the early release scheme have since been recalled to prison.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tracy Gilbert (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)]

T8. The number of C51 parental order applications has more than doubled in the past decade, and with more applications involving international surrogacy arrangements, the complexity of these cases has increased. Can the Minister confirm whether His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has raised concerns with the Department on these increased numbers, and will the Minister meet me and campaigners to discuss the growing concerns?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jake Richards)]

These applications and surrogacy issues raise complex issues around ethics, law and medicine. We have not had those concerns raised by HMCTS, but I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and campaigners to discuss it in more detail.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Last week the Justice Committee heard harrowing testimony about the tragic deaths of 14-year-old Ruth Szymankiewicz, 15-year-old Gabriel Santer and 23-year-old Matthew Caseby from their parents. These are all utterly tragic cases, but only one of them led to a prevention of future deaths case, and even then there is no enforcement of them. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the situation so that when the words “lessons learned” are said, families actually believe them?

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Ranger (Wrexham) (Lab)]

My constituent Tom Hughes, the owner of Red Dragon’s Vault in Wrexham, has repeatedly had his shop targeted by antisocial behaviour, with objects thrown at the window and customers being subjected to abuse. Rather than responding with anger, he is responding with hope, working with local youth organisations to support young people and provide them with more activities and opportunities. Does the Minister agree that while we must be tough on those committing antisocial behaviour, we must also be tough on its causes, such as the lack of youth opportunity?

[Jake Richards]

I am old enough, just, to remember a former Labour Prime Minister talk about being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. That informs our approach to youth justice. We set it out in the White Paper published earlier this year, and we will be making progress on that issue in due course.

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

Mr Speaker, ask any legal practitioner and they will tell you about the parlous state of our court estate. Can the Minister set out the estimated number of sitting days that have been lost since the last election as a result of emergency repairs across the HMCTS estate?

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

It is not right that children who were once in foster care, children’s homes or semi-independent living accommodation find themselves at the hands of the criminal justice system. In fact, over 50% of children in prison were once being cared for by the local authority. What are the Government doing to identify care leavers and care-experienced people in prison, and how are they working to reduce their reoffending and offending in the first place?

[Jake Richards]

My hon. Friend has raised this issue consistently and has done some really important work on it, both from the Back Benches and in government. In the next few weeks we will publish a protocol on exactly this issue. Before we do so, I should meet her to discuss it in more detail, and I will do so.

[Mr Lee Dillon (Newbury) (LD)]

Last year the British Horse Society recorded nearly 3,000 road incidents involving horses. However, because horses are classed as property, judges and courts cannot reflect the emotional distress that horse riders have when they lose their animal. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can change the law to better reflect the needs of victims?

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

I strongly welcome the steps that this Government are taking to help young people who lack the capacity to access their child trust funds. Can the Minister outline how many people he thinks that will benefit? What value will that have to families?

[Jake Richards]

We simply would not have got to this point without the almost constant championing of this cause by my hon. Friend, so I am very grateful to her. We estimate that up to 120,000 families will benefit from the changes that we are bringing about with my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. The average amount is £2,600, which will have a transformative effect for many families—I know that for one family in my constituency it means that they can go on holiday for the first time in three years. This is a really important step that this Labour Government are taking.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Victims of crime have asked the Lord Chancellor to publish criminal conviction data by nationality. Will he do so?