Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to teachers to improve (a) confidence and (b) skills in delivering financial education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley to the answer of 7 January to Question 21190.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2025 to Question 69586 on Food Supply, which (a) supermarkets and (b) food producers he has met with to discuss mitigating the risk of shortages to key food supplies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Over the last 12 months, the Secretary of State has attended a range of events across the year with both supermarkets and food producers to discuss risks to food security and explore measures to mitigate potential shortages.
Minister of State also chairs a regular session with the food and farming trade bodies which includes British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, National Farmers' Union, and UK Hospitality - where the issues of food security and resilience are regularly discussed.
In addition, Defra officials continue to engage with stakeholders across the food supply chain to focus on specific challenges. Recent meetings with supermarkets have focused on cyber and energy resilience.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are implementing the changes introduced in November 2024 to exempt all veterans from local connection requirements when applying for social housing; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of compliance by councils in the West Midlands.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces) (England) (Amendment) Regulations, which came into force in December 2024, mean that local authorities are no longer allowed to apply local connection tests to veterans of the Regular Armed Forces, regardless of when they last served.
Statutory guidance was updated on 18 December 2024 to reflect this change. The Department also notified local authorities when the regulations had been laid and came into force.
My Department will be monitoring the impact at local authority level through the Local Authority Housing Statistics, which will be published later in the year.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what the average time taken is from referral to charging decision by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) management information shows that in the most recent 12 months ending March 2025 it took a mean average of 46 calendar days from the first time the CPS received a case, either a request for early advice or a referral for a charging decision, to the decision to charge and prosecute.
For the above metric the median average is two calendar days.
The above timeliness data includes cases where the police have submitted a file for early advice as well as those for charging decision. This data includes cases where the police were required to submit further evidence prior to a decision to charge. This generally includes more than one submission and further investigation.
The timeliness of a charging decision is determined by three key factors: whether the case has been sent to the CPS for early advice during the investigative process; how quickly the police can complete the necessary enquiries; and how quickly the CPS can then review the evidence provided by the police and finalise the charging decision.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) apprentices and (b) young entrepreneurs have access to financial education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Financial education is integrated into the curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 (ages 11-16) through citizenship education and elements of the mathematics curriculum. Together this covers such areas as personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt and calculating interest.
Financial education is not compulsory post-16, however, providers are free to teach it and our 16-19 study programme guidance sets an expectation that students take part in other non-qualification activity to develop life skills, including managing personal finances.
There are a range of financial education-related qualifications for 16 to 19-year-olds to study, in including qualifications and courses at levels 1 and 2, with both the mathematics GCSE and L2 Functional Skills Qualifications supporting financial education. At Level 3 there is the T Level in Finance and Core Maths, which also covers financial literacy.
The current curriculum and assessment review will consider coverage of areas including applied knowledge and skills young people will need in life and work such as financial education.
Upskilling in English and mathematics is a key feature of all apprenticeships and young apprentices aged 16-18 at the start of their apprenticeship are required to achieve English and mathematics qualifications.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service has discontinued in the last three years; and for what reasons.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Management information held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows the number of defendants whose prosecution was dropped by the CPS and the primary reason allocated to the outcome at finalisation.
The table below shows the number and proportion of prosecutions dropped and the reason applied for the latest available three years ending March 2025.
| 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
Total Prosecutions | 402,052 | 419,401 | 449,573 |
Prosecutions Dropped | 45,674 | 46,794 | 49,553 |
Prosecutions Dropped % of Total Prosecutions | 11.4% | 11.2% | 11.0% |
Victim or witness reasons | 13,334 | 13,023 | 14,160 |
Victim or witness reasons % of Total Prosecutions | 3.3% | 3.1% | 3.1% |
Victim reasons | 10,426 | 10,479 | 11,351 |
Victim reasons % of Total Prosecutions | 2.6% | 2.5% | 2.5% |
Witness reasons | 2,908 | 2,544 | 2,809 |
Witness reasons % of Total Prosecutions | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.6% |
Disclosure - undermining unused material | 1,637 | 2,185 | 2,067 |
Disclosure - undermining unused material % of Total Prosecutions | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
Evidential | 18,572 | 19,251 | 19,622 |
Evidential % of Total Prosecutions | 4.6% | 4.6% | 4.4% |
Public interest | 11,510 | 11,720 | 12,886 |
Public interest % of Total Prosecutions | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2.9% |
Other | 621 | 615 | 818 |
Other % of Total Prosecutions | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | |||
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources available to the Crown Prosecution Service to meet current case volumes.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In June, the Chancellor announced a landmark increase of £96m (RDELex) in additional funding for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over the spending review period.
Through the spending review process, the AGO worked with the CPS and HM Treasury to review and agree CPS resources through assessing current and anticipated future case volumes, including consideration of the number of sitting days and the growing complexity of cases. This included a zero-based review of the CPS’ budget for this financial year, which tested the value for money of their spending and ensured that they are driving efficiencies and delivering for the public.
The additional funding over the next three years will mean the CPS can recruit more Crown Advocates and frontline staff to prosecute cases and better support victims. Investment in digital technology, new digital casework tools, and exploration of artificial intelligence tools will enable a more productive CPS to respond to the growing volume of cases.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many additional prosecutors the Crown Prosecution Service has recruited in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has recruited the following additional prosecutors in each of the last three years:
| CPS Prosecutor Full Time Equivalent (FTE) at year end | FTE Change on previous year / additional prosecutors recruited |
FY 22/23 | 3022.5 | + 82.4 |
FY 23/24 | 3075.1 | + 52.6 |
FY 24/25 | 3052.7 | - 22.4 |
| Total FTE Growth / additional Prosecutors | +112.6 |
The CPS forecasts significant growth in the number of additional prosecutors for the financial year 2025/26 following its positive Spending Review Phase 2 settlement – in which CPS received an uplift of £96 million.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to increase shipbuilding capacity.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government has an ambitious shipbuilding pipeline with major naval programmes in progress at a number of UK shipyards, recent export success of the Type 26 frigate to Norway and forthcoming civil shipbuilding programmes.
The National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) is leading the work for Government to engage with industry to explore further opportunities and requirements. As part of their remit, the NSO assesses current and future capacity to consider both demand and supply.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many open family cases there were in each Designated Family Judge area as of 23 July 2025, broken down by (a) public law and (b) private law; and what proportion of those cases involved litigants in person.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is provided in the data tables below up until 31 March 2025, aligning with the time period published in the Ministry of Justice’s official statistics. All data is taken from HMCTS administrative systems.
Caseload data by Designated Family Judge area:
| Count of the Public Law Open Caseload as at the 31 March 2025 broken down to reflect whether parties to proceedings have legal representation |
| |||
Designated Family Judge Area | Both Applicant and Respondent | Applicant only | Respondent only | Neither Applicant nor Respondent | Total |
Birmingham | 190 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 202 |
Blackburn/Lancaster | 304 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 325 |
Bournemouth and Dorset | 76 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 78 |
Brighton | 205 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 215 |
Bristol (A, NS and G) | 232 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 239 |
Business Centres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carlisle | 98 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 107 |
Central London | 529 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 552 |
Cleveland and South Durham | 259 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 286 |
Coventry | 100 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 107 |
Derby | 158 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 162 |
Devon | 246 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 267 |
East London | 535 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 554 |
Essex and Suffolk | 319 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 332 |
Humberside | 220 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 232 |
Leicester | 124 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 127 |
Lincoln | 96 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 101 |
Liverpool | 493 | 52 | 1 | 6 | 552 |
Luton | 119 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 126 |
Manchester | 721 | 37 | 0 | 3 | 761 |
Medway and Canterbury | 342 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 349 |
Milton Keynes | 140 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 144 |
North Wales | 99 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 108 |
North Yorkshire | 94 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 101 |
Northampton | 98 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 101 |
Northumbria and North Durham | 397 | 26 | 0 | 8 | 431 |
Norwich | 100 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 103 |
Nottingham | 131 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 138 |
Peterborough and Cambridge | 139 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 142 |
Portsmouth (Hampshire and IOW) | 194 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 217 |
Reading | 239 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 248 |
Royal Courts of Justice | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 |
South East Wales | 216 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 244 |
South Yorkshire | 273 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 286 |
Stoke on Trent | 162 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 183 |
Surrey | 89 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 94 |
Swansea | 100 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 113 |
Swindon | 63 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 65 |
Taunton | 99 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 104 |
Truro | 66 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 70 |
Watford | 85 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 91 |
West London | 385 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 400 |
West Yorkshire | 342 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 374 |
Wolverhampton | 283 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 299 |
Worcester | 76 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 85 |
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England and Wales | 9,280 | 526 | 3 | 51 | 9,860 |
| Count of the Private Law Open Caseload as at the 31 March 2025 broken down to reflect whether parties to proceedings have legal representation |
| |||
Designated Family Judge Area | Both Applicant and Respondent | Applicant only | Respondent only | Neither Applicant nor Respondent | Total |
Birmingham | 106 | 139 | 113 | 232 | 590 |
Blackburn/Lancaster | 148 | 208 | 132 | 388 | 876 |
Bournemouth and Dorset | 42 | 52 | 49 | 114 | 257 |
Brighton | 128 | 244 | 179 | 734 | 1285 |
Bristol (A, NS and G) | 223 | 205 | 158 | 458 | 1044 |
Business Centres | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
Carlisle | 46 | 58 | 39 | 106 | 249 |
Central London | 328 | 446 | 338 | 985 | 2097 |
Cleveland and South Durham | 113 | 92 | 90 | 154 | 449 |
Coventry | 81 | 90 | 82 | 164 | 417 |
Derby | 107 | 88 | 98 | 194 | 487 |
Devon | 171 | 185 | 170 | 310 | 836 |
East London | 346 | 484 | 416 | 881 | 2127 |
Essex and Suffolk | 305 | 394 | 320 | 894 | 1913 |
Humberside | 72 | 115 | 89 | 232 | 508 |
Leicester | 111 | 134 | 114 | 273 | 632 |
Lincoln | 69 | 69 | 51 | 112 | 301 |
Liverpool | 271 | 300 | 276 | 608 | 1455 |
Luton | 83 | 123 | 114 | 318 | 638 |
Manchester | 407 | 548 | 421 | 1094 | 2470 |
Medway and Canterbury | 197 | 292 | 260 | 788 | 1537 |
Milton Keynes | 48 | 72 | 73 | 169 | 362 |
North Wales | 58 | 46 | 42 | 55 | 201 |
North Yorkshire | 79 | 79 | 64 | 106 | 328 |
Northampton | 42 | 53 | 58 | 206 | 359 |
Northumbria and North Durham | 229 | 209 | 159 | 293 | 890 |
Norwich | 90 | 104 | 99 | 225 | 518 |
Nottingham | 135 | 189 | 140 | 269 | 733 |
Peterborough and Cambridge | 119 | 145 | 100 | 357 | 721 |
Portsmouth (Hampshire and IOW) | 177 | 269 | 208 | 781 | 1435 |
Reading | 169 | 262 | 206 | 473 | 1110 |
Royal Courts of Justice | 90 | 428 | 32 | 281 | 831 |
South East Wales | 83 | 104 | 71 | 179 | 437 |
South Yorkshire | 115 | 140 | 112 | 203 | 570 |
Stoke on Trent | 89 | 101 | 81 | 204 | 475 |
Surrey | 144 | 160 | 125 | 395 | 824 |
Swansea | 139 | 126 | 65 | 94 | 424 |
Swindon | 41 | 60 | 44 | 196 | 341 |
Taunton | 73 | 64 | 67 | 144 | 348 |
Truro | 85 | 66 | 58 | 170 | 379 |
Watford | 117 | 162 | 151 | 386 | 816 |
West London | 415 | 494 | 405 | 953 | 2267 |
West Yorkshire | 225 | 280 | 173 | 409 | 1087 |
Wolverhampton | 226 | 243 | 167 | 405 | 1041 |
Worcester | 78 | 79 | 70 | 130 | 357 |
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England and Wales | 6,420 | 8,202 | 6,279 | 16,129 | 37,030 |
Notes:
The HMCTS data provided above is in line with latest MoJ statistics.
Self-representation is determined by the field 'legal representation' in Familyman being left blank. Therefore, this is only a proxy measure and parties without a recorded representative are not necessarily self-representing litigants in person.
A party is considered 'applicant-represented' if at least one applicant has a recorded representative, and likewise for respondents.
The majority of Public law applicants are public bodies with access to their own legal resources - however, this legal representation is often not recorded. To address this we introduced a methodology which assumes that all public body applicants have legal representation.