Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the average number of days in advance that victims were informed of a Foreign National Offender's deportation in 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The HMPPS Victim Contact Scheme provides a service to victims of offenders convicted of specified violent, sexual, or terrorism offences who receive a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. The Victim Contact Scheme enables eligible victims to make representations regarding licence conditions and supervision requirements, and to receive relevant information as appropriate to the circumstances of the case, such as details about the offender’s sentence.
In accordance with policy, victims must be informed about the offender’s immigration status and their eligibility for schemes including the Early Removal Scheme Tariff Expired Removal Scheme, Prisoner Transfer Agreements, or extradition. Eligible victims who have opted into the Victim Contact Scheme are informed by their Victim Liaison Officer if an offender is being considered for deportation or removal, and when deportation or removal has taken place. The Home Office are responsible for the arrangements for deportation of the offender and as a result, victims are not informed of the date in advance and, therefore, the data requested cannot be provided. In addition, information relating to victim contact is not routinely collected or published.
For victims not eligible or engaged with the Victim Contact Scheme, the Victims’ Code sets out that you have the Right to ask for updates regarding the immigration case of the Foreign National Offender directly from the Home Office’s Victim Support Team.
Through the Victim and Courts Bill, we will be updating the legislative framework that establishes the Victim Contact Scheme to bring victims currently served by different post-conviction communication schemes into the Victim Contact Scheme and provide a new route for other victims to request information via a dedicated helpline.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the a) deterrents and b) sentences issued to repeat offenders.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Prolific offenders represent nearly 10% of offenders but account for just over 50% of all sentences. That clearly cannot continue. Their offending, while not high harm, hurts local communities through shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts and parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors. The courts also have a statutory duty to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.
Previous convictions are a statutory aggravating factor, with sentencing guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions. For more serious prolific offending, we are clear that custody has a crucial role to play as a robust backstop, within the maximum penalties set out in statute.
The Sentencing Act 2026 introduced a presumption to suspend short sentences of 12 months or less. Around 60% of adults sentenced for under a year reoffend within 12 months, whereas the evidence shows that those given a community order or suspended sentence reoffend less than similar offenders given a short prison sentence. We are following the evidence to reduce crime, leading to fewer victims and safer communities. Short prison sentences will continue to be available where an offender has breached a court order, including breaching the requirements of a previous suspended sentence order or committing a further offence, as well as where an individual is at significant risk of harm and in exceptional circumstances.
There are a range of tools in the community available to tackle prolific offenders. Integrated Offender Management (IOM) sees joint management of the most persistent and problematic neighbourhood crime offenders by probation, police, and other partnership agencies providing cross-agency supervision and support. Our new approach on Intensive Supervision Courts will impose tough measures that address the causes of prolific offending.
We are investing up to £700 million in probation and community services by 2028/29 to help rebuild the Probation Service to deliver a strong, professional service at the heart of the criminal justice system. We will continue to work with cross government partners and police forces to consider new ways of targeting and focusing on persistent and prolific offenders.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence have been released from prison in each of the last seven years broken down by prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The requested data is provided in the attached file. The data provided covers the number of prisoners serving IPP sentences released for the first time, broken down by prison, for the period 2018 to 2024 in England and Wales. The data does not cover release decisions following recall.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Risk Assessed Recall Review applications on behalf of prisoners serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection have been (a) submitted, (b) accepted, and (c) directed for release, in each month since November 2024.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Since 1 November 2024, officials in the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) in HMPPS has on behalf of the Secretary of State considered the suitability of every newly recalled IPP prisoner for re-release under RARR. That means that the recalled offender does not need to make an application for RARR. In each case, officials in PPCS will have regard to any recommendation made by the offender’s community offender manager. The number of recalled IPP offenders re-released via RARR in each month from 1 November 2024 to 30 September 2025 is given in the table below.
Year | Month | Release Decisions |
2024 | November | 0 |
2024 | December | 3 |
2025 | January | 8 |
2025 | February | 5 |
2025 | March | 8 |
2025 | April | 4 |
2025 | May | 4 |
2025 | June | 8 |
2025 | July | 7 |
2025 | August | 1 |
2025 | September | 2 |
Note:
Data quality: The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
We have provided the RARR release data up to 30 September 2025 as we have only published general release data up to 30 September 2025.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the rate of recidivism for hare coursing in the most recent period for which reporting is available.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the national rollout of the new child-focused family court model adequately identifies and responds to cases of parental alienation.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government does not recognise the concept of “parental alienation” and does not believe it is a syndrome capable of diagnosis. We are working with the Family Procedure Rule Committee to limit the instruction of unregulated experts, including unregulated “parental alienation” experts.
The Family Justice Council guidance on “Responding to a Child’s Unexplained Reluctance, Resistance or Refusal to Spend Time with a Parent and Allegations of Alienating Behaviour” provides a clear framework for assessing whether alienating behaviours are present.
The guidance clarifies that the child's perspective should be central, emphasising an understanding of their experiences and reasons for rejecting a parent. The guidance is clear that where the court finds that domestic abuse has occurred then the child’s rejection of the parent may be appropriate and justified.
The Child Focused Model prioritises early identification of risk and the voice of the child is amplified through a ‘Child Impact Report’. In addition, victims of domestic abuse are offered specialist support from an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA), which includes the offer of in-court support.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether their Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice has rolled out general purpose artificial intelligence tools like Microsoft Copilot across the Department to enhance productivity and support the work of all staff, including policy professionals. AI is being used to assist the policy-making process with tasks like brainstorming ideas, clarifying drafting, and searching for publicly available information. The Department encourages officials to always cross-validate the outputs of AI rather than blindly trusting them, applying human judgement and oversight as appropriate.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 70519 on Public Inquiries, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the Nottingham Inquiry.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In fulfilment of the PM’s commitment, this Government established a statutory Inquiry into the horrific attacks that took place in Nottingham in 2023. The Inquiry was formally announced by the previous Lord Chancellor to Parliament on 22 April.
The total cost of the Nottingham Inquiry from its commencement up to 31/03/26 is £10.9 million.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the Law Commission’s July 2022 recommendations on weddings law reform in England and Wales; and whether his Department has published any progress reports.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government announced on 2 October 2025 that we intend to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows, taking forward the two key elements from the Law Commission report. We will move to a more flexible system that gives couples greater choice over where and how they marry and simplify the legal framework so that it is fairer, more consistent and reflects modern society, while continuing to protect the dignity of marriage.
Ahead of these reforms, we will be undertaking a public consultation early this year. This consultation will seek views from wide range of stakeholders, including members of the public, couples, celebrants, and others to ensure broad engagement by those affected by and interested in weddings law.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the consultation on the Marriage Act 1949 reforms will be launched; how long it will run; and what steps will be taken to ensure the broad engagement with all stakeholders including couples and celebrants.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government announced on 2 October 2025 that we intend to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows, taking forward the two key elements from the Law Commission report. We will move to a more flexible system that gives couples greater choice over where and how they marry and simplify the legal framework so that it is fairer, more consistent and reflects modern society, while continuing to protect the dignity of marriage.
Ahead of these reforms, we will be undertaking a public consultation early this year. This consultation will seek views from wide range of stakeholders, including members of the public, couples, celebrants, and others to ensure broad engagement by those affected by and interested in weddings law.