Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department will publish details of any contracts, consultancy arrangements, training programmes, or formal partnerships between Women’s Aid and (a) Cafcass and (b) the family courts.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment into victim support services to date. This includes funding for the 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes:
‘Core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
Funding that is ringfenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services.
PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet the need of victims in their area. Many PCCs across England and Wales provide funding to local Women’s Aid centres to deliver vital victim support services within their area.
We do not routinely publish the full Ministry of Jusice budget or details of grant agreements or contracts for victim and witness support services. The budgets for individual PCC areas are published on each area’s website. A breakdown of grant funding for the previous financial year is published on an annual basis on the Government Grants Information System.
Turning specifically to the Family Courts, since 13 January 2025, a process has operated that allows court staff to ensure the safe service of court documents to those who are residing at a refuge. This service ensures that courts can protect the individual’s safety (and that of everyone living in the refuge) while also supporting the right to a fair trial for all parties. Practice Direction 6D makes provision for this service.
The Ministry of Justice awarded a grant to Women's Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women's Aid to develop and deliver this service. Details of this will be published as part of the Government Grants publication which can be found here: Government grants data and statistics - GOV.UK. Routine funding is now provided to both organisations to continue its operation.
Cafcass does not hold any contracts, service agreements, training arrangements or other formal partnership arrangements with Women’s Aid.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has received reports regarding the treatment of disabled or seriously ill prisoners in Montserrat.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Secretary of State does not routinely receive formal reports specifically on the treatment of disabled or seriously ill prisoners in Overseas Territory prisons. However, he would be informed in cases where a prisoner is transferred to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
Ministry of Justice officials have visited HMP Brades, the prison in Montserrat, on several occasions over the past five years to review prison operations, including healthcare provision. This has helped inform the overall management of the establishment by the Superintendent and Governor.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond to the Law Commission's recommendations on the reclamation and reuse of graves.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission’s recommendations on burial were published on 18 March 2026 in its final report on the Burial and Cremation sub-project of a wider review of the legislative framework for burial, cremation and new funerary methods. Reports will also be published in due course in relation to New Funerary Methods and Rights and Obligations relating to Funerary Methods, Funerals and Remains.
The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations carefully and will respond in due course.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current average processing time is for probate applications; and how that compares to each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publish regular data on probate timeliness and open caseload in our quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff in 2026, alongside system, process improvements and a programme of upskilling to improve the processing time for applications and maintain the low level of outstanding caseload.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog of probate cases.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publish regular data on probate timeliness and open caseload in our quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff in 2026, alongside system, process improvements and a programme of upskilling to improve the processing time for applications and maintain the low level of outstanding caseload.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hours of unpaid work were (a) sentenced and (b) credited in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Between July 2021 and June 2025, a total of 24,341,125 hours of unpaid work were sentenced in England and Wales. In the same period, 17,614,065 hours of unpaid work were credited in England and Wales.
By Performance Year | Hours of unpaid work sentenced | Hours of unpaid work credited |
July 2021 to March 2022* | 4,351,655 | 2,769,930 |
April 2022 to March 2023 | 5,943,455 | 4,499,655 |
April 2023 to March 2024 | 6,108,405 | 4,683,290 |
April 2024 to March 2025 | 6,273,290 | 4,520,280 |
April 2025 to June 2025* | 1,664,320 | 1,140,910 |
Periods marked with an asterisk (*) indicate incomplete performance years.
Hours sentenced are the number of hours that the offender is required to work as part of the sentence of the court.
Upon attendance of the unpaid work session, the time the offender spends working will be credited towards the number of hours they have been ordered to complete. This includes where a person attends a session and subsequently fails to comply with instructions or is sent home due to poor behaviour, or where service issues during the day cause a session to be cancelled.
Data from April 2022 to June 2025 sourced from the latest published statistics on unpaid work. A link can be found here - Unpaid work management information, update to June 2025 - GOV.UK
Data from July 2021 to March 2022 sourced from nDelius on 13/04/2026. While these data have been assured as much as practical, as with any large administrative dataset, the data should not be assumed to be accurate to the last value presented.
Data from the biannual Unpaid Work publication are rounded to the nearest five hours worked for data suppression purposes and yearly totals are calculated on the rounded values of each quarter. To be consistent with the publication, the same principle has been applied to data between July 2021 and March 2022.
The next publication is due on 14 May 2026.
Data are provided from July 2021, the month following the reunification of the Probation Service.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what contracts, grants, or commissioned training programmes have been awarded to Women’s Aid by his Department, Cafcass, or the family courts in the last five years; and whether Women’s Aid undertakes work within the family justice system.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment into victim support services to date. This includes funding for the 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes:
‘Core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
Funding that is ringfenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services.
PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet the need of victims in their area. Many PCCs across England and Wales provide funding to local Women’s Aid centres to deliver vital victim support services within their area.
We do not routinely publish the full Ministry of Jusice budget or details of grant agreements or contracts for victim and witness support services. The budgets for individual PCC areas are published on each area’s website. A breakdown of grant funding for the previous financial year is published on an annual basis on the Government Grants Information System.
Turning specifically to the Family Courts, since 13 January 2025, a process has operated that allows court staff to ensure the safe service of court documents to those who are residing at a refuge. This service ensures that courts can protect the individual’s safety (and that of everyone living in the refuge) while also supporting the right to a fair trial for all parties. Practice Direction 6D makes provision for this service.
The Ministry of Justice awarded a grant to Women's Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women's Aid to develop and deliver this service. Details of this will be published as part of the Government Grants publication which can be found here: Government grants data and statistics - GOV.UK. Routine funding is now provided to both organisations to continue its operation.
Cafcass does not hold any contracts, service agreements, training arrangements or other formal partnership arrangements with Women’s Aid.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Cafcass or the family courts hold any contracts, service agreements, or training arrangements with Women’s Aid; and whether Women’s Aid currently undertakes any funded or formal work with the family justice system.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment into victim support services to date. This includes funding for the 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes:
‘Core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need.
Funding that is ringfenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services.
PCCs are best placed to understand their local communities and providers, and to commission appropriate support to meet the need of victims in their area. Many PCCs across England and Wales provide funding to local Women’s Aid centres to deliver vital victim support services within their area.
We do not routinely publish the full Ministry of Jusice budget or details of grant agreements or contracts for victim and witness support services. The budgets for individual PCC areas are published on each area’s website. A breakdown of grant funding for the previous financial year is published on an annual basis on the Government Grants Information System.
Turning specifically to the Family Courts, since 13 January 2025, a process has operated that allows court staff to ensure the safe service of court documents to those who are residing at a refuge. This service ensures that courts can protect the individual’s safety (and that of everyone living in the refuge) while also supporting the right to a fair trial for all parties. Practice Direction 6D makes provision for this service.
The Ministry of Justice awarded a grant to Women's Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women's Aid to develop and deliver this service. Details of this will be published as part of the Government Grants publication which can be found here: Government grants data and statistics - GOV.UK. Routine funding is now provided to both organisations to continue its operation.
Cafcass does not hold any contracts, service agreements, training arrangements or other formal partnership arrangements with Women’s Aid.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of jurors completed jury service lasting (a) one week or less from their first day of service, (b) more than one week but not more than two weeks, (c) more than two weeks but not more than three weeks, (d) more than three weeks but not more than four weeks, (e) more than four weeks but not more than five weeks, (f) more than five weeks but not more than six weeks, and (g) more than six weeks in the last two years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
When jurors are summoned, they are advised that Jury service usually lasts up to 10 working days, although some trials may extend beyond this period and jurors will be advised of this in advance. Jurors may also sit on more than one case during their service.
Proportion of Jurors by Jury Service Duration (Weeks) | |||
Period | Jan 2024 – Dec 2025 | Jan 2024 – Dec 2025 (%) | |
One week or less | 210,930 | 53.1% | |
Between 1 and 2 weeks | 155,178 | 39.1% | |
Between 2 and 3 weeks | 18,806 | 4.7% | |
Between 3 and 4 weeks | 5,061 | 1.3% | |
Between 4 and 5 weeks | 2,841 | 0.7% | |
Between 5 and 6 weeks | 1,667 | 0.4% | |
More than 6 weeks | 2,773 | 0.7% | |
Total | 397,256 | 100.0% | |
Source: HMCTS management information - Data extracted via Juror 16/4/2026 Notes:
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Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children aged (a) under one years old, (b) aged between one and four years old and (c) aged five years and older were (i) adopted and (ii) given a Special guardianship order in each year since 1996.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Data on the age of the children subject to adoption and Special Guardianship Orders is routinely published in Family Court Quarterly statistics and the relevant tables are attached.
Data prior to 2011 is not readily available and to source it would incur disproportionate costs.