Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of safeguards for preventing harm to children during court-ordered contact arrangements.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government has been clear – child safety during court-ordered contact is vital.
The recently published review of court’s application of the presumption of parental involvement found a high incidence of ordered contact. In some instances, this could have negative implications for children.
That is why this Government plans to repeal the presumption from the Children Act 1989. This will be part of a package of reforms to the family courts – including the further expansion of the Pathfinder model.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding to the Probation Service for meeting its additional responsibilities in the Sentencing Bill.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We continue to invest in Probation to ensure workloads are manageable and the changes from the Independent Sentencing Review are sustainable.
The Probation and community services budget will increase by up to £700 million (a 45% rise) by 2028/2029.
An initial £8 million will be invested in technology to reduce administration and free up officers to focus on managing risk and reducing reoffending.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) translators and (b) interpreters have worked in the prison estate since 2018; and what the total cost to the public purse was for their services.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
HMPPS uses translation services provided under contract. These services provide translation by phone and do not require translators to physically come onto the prison estate. There may be specific occasions where in person translators are required but we do not hold a central record for these and to collect the information would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what visits he has conducted to (a) HMP Pentonville and (b) HMP Manchester since he became Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Since his appointment in September, HMP Pentonville and HMP Manchester are not prisons the Secretary of State for Justice has visited although he has been to HMP Belmarsh and HMP Gartree. Ministers visit prisons regularly and in recent months this has included both HMP Manchester and HMP Pentonville.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2025 to Question 82447 on Ministry of Justice: ICT, how many of the 1026 devices lost were (a) secure laptops, (b) secure mobile phones and (c) authentication devices.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Of the 1026 devices lost, 317 were laptops (30.9%), and 709 were mobile phones (69.1%). There were 0 authentication devices.
All of these devices were secured to HMG standards, using encryption and other methods to ensure that data on them remains inaccessible if the device is lost or stolen.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish (a) all recreational activities provided to inmates and (b) the total cost to the public purse for providing those activities in (i) HMP Maidstone, (ii) HMP Huntercombe and (iii) HMP Morton Hall since 2018.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The requested data is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the average cost to fathers of pursuing access to children through the family court system; and whether he plans to make that process more affordable.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on child arrangements that might help answer the questions relating to:
The number of custody arrangements ordered by family courts that resulted in the father being granted equal or majority care of the child in the last five years.
The average waiting time for fathers seeking access to their children through the family courts after a separation.
The number of fathers prevented from seeing their children following court proceedings in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not held centrally. It may be held in court records, but to determine that and obtain it would incur disproportionate costs
The Ministry of Justice is not able to estimate the average cost to fathers of making child arrangements in court as this data is not available.
We are committed to ensuring that the family justice system supports all parents – including fathers – and children and reflects the realities of modern family life, and we recognise the importance of ensuring that both parents have the opportunity to maintain meaningful relationships with their children where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The Children Act 1989 requires the court to have the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration when making a decision about the child’s upbringing. Any decisions the family courts make about the future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle. There is no automatic assumption of shared custody, as decisions about whom a child is to live or spend time with are based on the child’s best interests. This principle applies equally to mothers and fathers.
The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those who cannot otherwise afford them. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangements orders.
We are also working to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness, so that children – and the parents seeking to support them – can access the support and stability they need without unnecessary delay. This includes the agreement of system-wide targets by the Family Justice Board for 2025/26, with a continued focus on tackling delay and reducing outstanding caseloads. In public law proceedings relating to children (such as care proceedings), this involves a renewed emphasis on the procedure set out in the Public Law Outline; and in private law proceedings relating to children (such as applications for child arrangements orders), areas delivering the new Pathfinder model have made significant progress in addressing delays.
The Government does not have any plans to commission a cross-departmental review as suggested, and we have committed to long-term reform of the family courts to deliver better outcomes for families.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of fathers prevented from seeing their children following court proceedings in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on child arrangements that might help answer the questions relating to:
The number of custody arrangements ordered by family courts that resulted in the father being granted equal or majority care of the child in the last five years.
The average waiting time for fathers seeking access to their children through the family courts after a separation.
The number of fathers prevented from seeing their children following court proceedings in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not held centrally. It may be held in court records, but to determine that and obtain it would incur disproportionate costs
The Ministry of Justice is not able to estimate the average cost to fathers of making child arrangements in court as this data is not available.
We are committed to ensuring that the family justice system supports all parents – including fathers – and children and reflects the realities of modern family life, and we recognise the importance of ensuring that both parents have the opportunity to maintain meaningful relationships with their children where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The Children Act 1989 requires the court to have the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration when making a decision about the child’s upbringing. Any decisions the family courts make about the future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle. There is no automatic assumption of shared custody, as decisions about whom a child is to live or spend time with are based on the child’s best interests. This principle applies equally to mothers and fathers.
The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those who cannot otherwise afford them. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangements orders.
We are also working to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness, so that children – and the parents seeking to support them – can access the support and stability they need without unnecessary delay. This includes the agreement of system-wide targets by the Family Justice Board for 2025/26, with a continued focus on tackling delay and reducing outstanding caseloads. In public law proceedings relating to children (such as care proceedings), this involves a renewed emphasis on the procedure set out in the Public Law Outline; and in private law proceedings relating to children (such as applications for child arrangements orders), areas delivering the new Pathfinder model have made significant progress in addressing delays.
The Government does not have any plans to commission a cross-departmental review as suggested, and we have committed to long-term reform of the family courts to deliver better outcomes for families.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of custody arrangements ordered by family courts that resulted in the father being granted equal or majority care of the child in the last five years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on child arrangements that might help answer the questions relating to:
The number of custody arrangements ordered by family courts that resulted in the father being granted equal or majority care of the child in the last five years.
The average waiting time for fathers seeking access to their children through the family courts after a separation.
The number of fathers prevented from seeing their children following court proceedings in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not held centrally. It may be held in court records, but to determine that and obtain it would incur disproportionate costs
The Ministry of Justice is not able to estimate the average cost to fathers of making child arrangements in court as this data is not available.
We are committed to ensuring that the family justice system supports all parents – including fathers – and children and reflects the realities of modern family life, and we recognise the importance of ensuring that both parents have the opportunity to maintain meaningful relationships with their children where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The Children Act 1989 requires the court to have the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration when making a decision about the child’s upbringing. Any decisions the family courts make about the future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle. There is no automatic assumption of shared custody, as decisions about whom a child is to live or spend time with are based on the child’s best interests. This principle applies equally to mothers and fathers.
The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those who cannot otherwise afford them. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangements orders.
We are also working to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness, so that children – and the parents seeking to support them – can access the support and stability they need without unnecessary delay. This includes the agreement of system-wide targets by the Family Justice Board for 2025/26, with a continued focus on tackling delay and reducing outstanding caseloads. In public law proceedings relating to children (such as care proceedings), this involves a renewed emphasis on the procedure set out in the Public Law Outline; and in private law proceedings relating to children (such as applications for child arrangements orders), areas delivering the new Pathfinder model have made significant progress in addressing delays.
The Government does not have any plans to commission a cross-departmental review as suggested, and we have committed to long-term reform of the family courts to deliver better outcomes for families.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time is for fathers seeking access to their children through the family courts after a separation.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds data on child arrangements that might help answer the questions relating to:
The number of custody arrangements ordered by family courts that resulted in the father being granted equal or majority care of the child in the last five years.
The average waiting time for fathers seeking access to their children through the family courts after a separation.
The number of fathers prevented from seeing their children following court proceedings in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not held centrally. It may be held in court records, but to determine that and obtain it would incur disproportionate costs
The Ministry of Justice is not able to estimate the average cost to fathers of making child arrangements in court as this data is not available.
We are committed to ensuring that the family justice system supports all parents – including fathers – and children and reflects the realities of modern family life, and we recognise the importance of ensuring that both parents have the opportunity to maintain meaningful relationships with their children where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The Children Act 1989 requires the court to have the child’s welfare as its paramount consideration when making a decision about the child’s upbringing. Any decisions the family courts make about the future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle. There is no automatic assumption of shared custody, as decisions about whom a child is to live or spend time with are based on the child’s best interests. This principle applies equally to mothers and fathers.
The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those who cannot otherwise afford them. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangements orders.
We are also working to reduce backlogs and improve timeliness, so that children – and the parents seeking to support them – can access the support and stability they need without unnecessary delay. This includes the agreement of system-wide targets by the Family Justice Board for 2025/26, with a continued focus on tackling delay and reducing outstanding caseloads. In public law proceedings relating to children (such as care proceedings), this involves a renewed emphasis on the procedure set out in the Public Law Outline; and in private law proceedings relating to children (such as applications for child arrangements orders), areas delivering the new Pathfinder model have made significant progress in addressing delays.
The Government does not have any plans to commission a cross-departmental review as suggested, and we have committed to long-term reform of the family courts to deliver better outcomes for families.