Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 56664 on Prisoners' Transfers: Transgender People, what is the definition of general female estate.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The general female estate comprises the establishments in which female prisoners are accommodated. E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is a special unit: it is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are located separately from all other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview. They may receive supervised access to activities in the main prison’s regime, such as visits, education, work and faith services. Such access is provided only where a local risk assessment has determined this to be appropriate.
As of 1 July, seven prisoners were being held on E Wing.
We are reviewing all relevant policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to review the Sentencing Council's remit on young offenders convicted of (a) murder and (b) manslaughter.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has no current plans to ask the Council to consider reviewing the guidelines in relation to this cohort.
The law is clear that those who commit murder as children must receive a life sentence. There is no mandatory sentence for a child convicted of manslaughter, but the court may impose a life sentence, depending on the circumstances of the case.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much her Department has spent on (a) social media promotions, (b) influencer marketing and (c) online advertising in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Commercial sensitivities exist around aspects of this spend which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) men, and (2) women, over the age of 50 received custodial sentences of 12 months or fewer for non-violent offences over the past three years.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentences for non-violent offences in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. The data tool can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2024.
The number of over 50-year-old men and women who received custodial sentences of 12 months or less for non-violent offences can be found in the table below.
The number of people aged 50 and above who received a custodial sentence of 12 months or fewer for non-violent offences, in England and Wales (1,2,3,4,5)
Sentenced | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Male | 2,650 | 2,900 | 3,630 |
Female | 215 | 225 | 269 |
| 2,865 | 3,125 | 3,899 |
Source: Court Proceedings Database
Notes:
1. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
2. These figures are presented on a principal offence basis - i.e. reporting information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
3. These figures are presented on a principal disposal basis - i.e. reporting the most severe sentence issued for the offence.
4. The figures in the table exclude violence against the person offences but some offences that involved the use of violence can still be recorded under other offence categories.
5. The age recorded is the age at the point of sentencing.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2025 to Question 56158 on Prisons: Research, when she expects the research findings process for that Ipsos MORI research project to conclude.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ministry of Justice officials received research findings from Ipsos MORI in November last year (2024) and are currently considering the implications of the work.
Research findings are published in accordance with Government Social Research guidelines, following a peer review process to ensure the quality and robustness of the work. Until that has taken place findings cannot be published.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 30 October 2024 (HL1966), what actions they have considered to compensate contractors who have not received payments due to them as a result of failures in the procurement process.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
ISG Construction Limited entered administration on 20 September 2024 and was caused by the financial health of the overall ISG group. The Ministry of Justice awards contracts in line with the relevant procurement regulations including undertaking appropriate due diligence.
Subcontractors have been made aware that the Department is not able to underwrite debt owed by ISG as a result of their administration, and that they should engage with the Joint Administrators (Ernst & Young) with regard to any claims arising from their contracts with ISG.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 56664 on Prisoners' Transfers: Transgender People, whether E Wing at HMP Downview is considered to be in the women's or men's prison estate.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The general female estate comprises the establishments in which female prisoners are accommodated. E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is a special unit: it is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are located separately from all other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview. They may receive supervised access to activities in the main prison’s regime, such as visits, education, work and faith services. Such access is provided only where a local risk assessment has determined this to be appropriate.
As of 1 July, seven prisoners were being held on E Wing.
We are reviewing all relevant policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) facilities and (b) services the biological males held in HMP Downview share with women prisoners simultaneously.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The general female estate comprises the establishments in which female prisoners are accommodated. E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is a special unit: it is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are located separately from all other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview. They may receive supervised access to activities in the main prison’s regime, such as visits, education, work and faith services. Such access is provided only where a local risk assessment has determined this to be appropriate.
As of 1 July, seven prisoners were being held on E Wing.
We are reviewing all relevant policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many biological males were held in HMP Downview on 1 June 2025.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The general female estate comprises the establishments in which female prisoners are accommodated. E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is a special unit: it is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are located separately from all other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview. They may receive supervised access to activities in the main prison’s regime, such as visits, education, work and faith services. Such access is provided only where a local risk assessment has determined this to be appropriate.
As of 1 July, seven prisoners were being held on E Wing.
We are reviewing all relevant policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling and will set out any changes to our approach in due course.
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.