Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 9 November 2020 (HL Deb, col 798) and the answer by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar on 6 July (HL Deb, col 1149), what work has been undertaken by the team of officials appointed to work on the royal commission on criminal justice since November 2020; and what work are they currently undertaking.

Work to establish a Royal Commission was slowed down last year to prioritise the safe operation of the Criminal Justice System in response to the impact of Covid. As we continue to recover and build back the CJS, it is right that we now pause work on the Royal Commission to allow space for the recovery work before revisiting where a Commission might add most value. As work on the Commission has paused, officials have been redeployed to other roles in government.