Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need for proceedings of the Court of Protection to continue to be conducted in private.

Attended hearings in the Court of Protection have ordinarily been held in public since 2016 with a ‘Transparency Order’ being made by the court to prohibit the publication of information that identifies, or is likely to identify, the vulnerable person concerned, their family, or any other person specified in the order. This allows the public and the media to attend hearings to observe how decisions are made whilst maintaining the privacy of the vulnerable person, their family, and any others involved.