Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison cell fires there were in 2025, broken down by institution.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is provided in the following table:
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The overwhelming majority of the cell fires were classed as ‘minor’ and were quickly dealt with by staff. Medical assessment is provided to anyone who may have been exposed to smoke or heat. Where it is found that a fire is the result of arson, or recklessness, the prisoner responsible will face robust punitive action, which can include further criminal charges. All operational staff receive training in responding to fire incidents, including the use of specialist safety and firefighting equipment. |
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle family court backlogs in London.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government remains committed to reducing the outstanding caseload within the Family Court and is working closely with system partners to drive forward a cross-cutting programme of work to achieve this. At a national level the Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26, with a continued focus on reducing delay.
In London, a dedicated Family Justice Strategy has been implemented, which brings together key partners across the three London Family Court areas. This work has included targeted investment over 2025/26 to tackle the outstanding private law caseload by providing additional court capacity and ensuring that courts follow the Public Law Outline, with clear arrangements for overseeing performance. These measures have already delivered a reduction in delays and the London model is being evaluated with a view to applying lessons learned in other regions.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the amount of court time used to pursue Palestine Action prosecutions in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the amount of court time used to pursue Palestine Action prosecutions over the last 12 months.
We have been working with the judiciary and other criminal justice partners to put in place measures to manage anticipated demand and ensure any prosecutions are dealt with efficiently and expeditiously.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the Law Commission’s report entitled Modernising Wills Law, published on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is giving careful consideration to the Law Commission’s comprehensive report on the law of wills and will be announcing next steps in the near future.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62255 on Legal Aid, how many of the Public Family Law Legal Help Fee Level 1 matter starts were for clients who were children, in each of the five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information can be found in the below table:
Financial Year | Public law family Level 1 - children |
2020-21 | 36 |
2021-22 | 21 |
2022-23 | 18 |
2023-24 | 21 |
2024-25 | 27 |
Data is derived from the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Official Statistics: Legal aid statistics data files - GOV.UK. The LAA also publishes a more user-friendly tool to analyse this data which can be accessed here.
Please note that as Public Law Family cases are delivered as Controlled Work, legal aid providers are permitted to self-grant legal aid under delegated functions. This means there is no application to the LAA. Data is therefore derived from claim submissions sent to the LAA at the end of the case. It is possible therefore that a small number of cases reported in the table above were opened in the previous financial year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment she has made of the performance of the Family Court system in (a) London and (b) the rest of the country.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to improving performance, which is assessed against system wide targets for 2025/26, agreed by the Family Justice Board. The latest published data shows encouraging signs nationally, including a reduction in the public law open caseload.
Official statistics on family courts are available here: Family Court Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Performance varies across regions, and London continues to experience significant challenges which result in high outstanding caseloads and high average case durations. System partners are working collaboratively to understand and address the drivers of delay and the region is showing positive signs of improvement.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to help support parents with the costs of the Family Court system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those on low incomes or in receipt of certain benefits. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangement orders.
Legal aid is available in some private family matters, including for individuals experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse; for individuals (for example, parents) where the child who is the subject of the order is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse; people under the age of 18; in certain cases of international or domestic abduction; for family mediation where there is a family dispute and for certain urgent protection applications – for example, non-molestation orders. To be eligible for legal aid means and merits tests and evidence requirements also usually need to be met.
Legal aid is also available for parents, those with parental responsibility, children and third parties (such as grandparents) in certain public family proceedings, subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests.
Beyond legal aid, the Ministry of Justice is providing funding to support the delivery of wider legal support services, which provide advice and support to individuals facing social welfare legal problems, including family matters. In 2025-26 the Ministry of Justice will provide over £6 million of grant funding to 60 frontline organisations to improve access to free legal support and information, both in-person and online, and to help people resolve their problems as early as possible. This includes funding for organisations including some local Citizens Advice and Law Centres, as well as AdviceNow, which provides online support on their website across a range of civil, family and tribunal issues.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families to, where appropriate, resolve their issues without the need to come to court. The Mediation Voucher Scheme provides up to £500 towards the cost of mediation to help families resolve their child arrangement disputes outside of court, where this is safe and appropriate. The voucher is non-means tested and is available to anyone with a private law dispute relating to children. The scheme will be in place until at least March 2026 and has helped over 44,000 families to date.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many matter starts there have been for (a) legal help public law level one, (b) family help public law lower level two, (c) legal help private law level one and (d) family help private law lower level two in the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information can be found in the below tables:
Public Family Law
Financial Year | Fee Level 1 | Fee Level 2 |
2020-21 | 1,542 | 12,371 |
2021-22 | 1,351 | 13,325 |
2022-23 | 1,110 | 13,363 |
2023-24 | 1,238 | 14,638 |
2024-25 | 1,266 | 15,623 |
Private Family Law
Financial Year | Level 1 | Level 1 and 2 | Level 2 |
2020-21 | 5,056 | 655 | 42 |
2021-22 | 5,541 | 875 | 40 |
2022-23 | 5,151 | 776 | 30 |
2023-24 | 5,425 | 910 | 55 |
2024-25 | 5,596 | 1,003 | 92 |
Data is derived from the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Official Statistics, which can be found at: Legal aid statistics data files - GOV.UK. The LAA also publishes a more user-friendly tool to analyse this data which can be accessed here.
Please note that as Public Law and Private Law Family cases are delivered as Controlled Work, legal aid providers are permitted to self-grant legal aid under delegated functions. This means there is no application to the LAA. Data is therefore derived from claim submissions sent to the LAA at the end of the case. It is possible therefore that a small number of cases reported in the table above were opened in the previous financial year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2024 to Question 24357 on Prisons: Fires, how many ignition-free safer vape pens have been introduced in each prison.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Safer Vape Pen Initiative is designed to prevent use of these pens as an ignition source. In addition, the safer pen incorporates features that limit its scope to be used as a delivery mechanism for illicit substances. Pathfinder trials, involving 1,138 prisoners, have commenced at HMP Swaleside and HMP The Mount. Five additional prisons – HMP Belmarsh, HMP East Sutton Park, HMP Five Wells, HMP Swansea, and HMP Wormwood Scrubs – are scheduled to join the trials in June 2025.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 27891 on Detention and Training Orders: Children, how many and what proportion of the children identified as having SEND (a) had and (b) did not have (i) an EHC plan and (ii) other special needs support.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Children’s special educational needs are assessed when entering custody, and are regularly reviewed.
To obtain the information requested, it would be necessary to undertake a detailed review of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.