Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report entitled Mental capacity small payments scheme: Government response, published on 28 February 2023, whether his Department plans to publish its plan for improving the Court of Protection Property and Affairs order process.

Whilst there are no plans to publish anything further on this, the ongoing improvements of the online property and affairs applications process at the Court of Protection are iterative and include ongoing development of the online applications process, user testing, reviewing and revising the court forms and supporting guidance and clearer information on Gov.UK. Forms required for paper applications are also under review and revision.

Initial improvements were rolled out for all court users in February 2023, resulting in application waiting times being reduced from 24 weeks to 8 weeks.