Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, further to the UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding, 22 December 2025, whether he intends that the UK Government will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions on (a) reinforced law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and (b) judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has agreed that when the UK participates in an EU instrument, programme or other activity, the UK will make a fair financial contribution to cover the costs of our participation. No decisions have yet been taken as to whether the UK will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions set out in the Common Understanding of 19 May 2025 on a) reinforced law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and (b) judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.
Any decisions on such matters will be assessed in accordance with Government Accounting Officer rules, including value for money. The UK Government remains committed to close and effective collaboration with EU and EFTA countries in these matters.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure that those in the criminal justice system benefit from the National Year of Reading 2026.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The National Year of Reading is a welcome opportunity to promote a wide range of activity to improve literacy and engagement with reading for people in custody and on probation.
As part of this work we have appointed the first ever Prison Reading Laureate, the author Lee Child. He will champion the transformative power of reading across the criminal justice system, continue expansion of his successful literacy pilot programme which has been running in a number of prisons since 2025 and will bring in more authors to work with prisons across the country, promoting the benefits of reading to rehabilitation.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS who work with many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations such as the Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. A programme of work is planned throughout this year to improve national access to books and facilitate workshops with authors. The Youth Custody Service is also launching its first ever Literacy Festival to inspire reading amongst some of the most complex children in our society.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in prison or a Young Offenders Institute self-describe their ethnicity as Romany.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is published in Table 1_A_21 of the Offender Management Statistics ‘annual’ prison population tables.
As of 30 June 2025, the most recent date for which statistics are available, 79 of those in custody described their ethnicity as Roma.
To note, the ‘Roma’ ethnicity code is a recent addition to the prison offender management system, and the ‘as at 30 June 2025’ data is the first publication of these figures. As such, we would expect numbers to increase over time as new prisoners entering the system are able to self-identify as ‘Roma’.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on electronic monitoring contracts in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The spend on electronic monitoring contracts in each of the last five financial years is presented in the table below:
Year 2021-22 | £55.6m |
Year 2022-23 | £60.4m |
Year 2023-24 | £88.0m |
Year 2024-25 | £106.8m |
Forecast Year 2025/26 | £107.8m |
The total number of individuals with an electronic monitoring device assigned at 31 December 2025 was 28,111. This figure comes from the Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication: (Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, December 2025 - GOV.UK).
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electronic-monitoring-statistics-publication-december-2025
The cost per tag information is commercially sensitive. The Ministry of Justice believes that releasing information on device costs would prejudice, or likely prejudice Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring’s (the provider of the monitoring equipment) commercial interests.
The latest assessment of average running costs per offender per year is £3,130 – related to direct EM costs only. That figure includes contracted out and internal costs but does not include the average cost of a probation or police officer supervising an individual with EM.
Tagging is a critical tool for punishing and monitoring offenders outside of prison which is why we are already tagging more offenders than ever before and will increase numbers further through the Sentencing Act.
For information relating to the additional supervision costs of managing an individual with EM please refer to the following answer: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help prevent the principle of judicial comity from being used by the People’s Republic of China to conduct transnational repression against diaspora groups through UK civil courts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Decisions about recognition of foreign judgments are made by the UK’s independent judiciary, with safeguards against recognition and enforcement being available.
There are various grounds on which a judge may refuse to recognise or enforce a foreign judgment, including for example where the foreign court acted without jurisdiction, the proceedings involved a breach of natural justice, or recognition would be contrary to public policy.
The Government engages regularly with the judiciary and stakeholders about the operation of frameworks for recognition and enforcement.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Officials from the Ministry of Justice regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.
The Ministry of Justice is actively supporting this work and regularly fields senior officials from across the Department, including the Permanent Secretary, to cross-government meetings on a range of issues, including national security, resilience and defence.
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the findings in the China Strategic Risks Institute report entitled The PRC’s Extraterritorial Legal Architecture, published in January 2026, regarding the risks of China's civil judgments being enforced in the UK against the public interest.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Decisions about recognition of foreign judgments are made by the UK’s independent judiciary, with safeguards against recognition and enforcement being available.
There are various grounds on which a judge may refuse to recognise or enforce a foreign judgment, including for example where the foreign court acted without jurisdiction, the proceedings involved a breach of natural justice, or recognition would be contrary to public policy.
The Government engages regularly with the judiciary and stakeholders about the operation of frameworks for recognition and enforcement.
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review the assumption of judicial independence used to recognize civil judgments from Hong Kong, in light of the National Security Law and other developments.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Decisions about recognition of foreign judgments are made by the UK’s independent judiciary, with safeguards against recognition and enforcement being available.
There are various grounds on which a judge may refuse to recognise or enforce a foreign judgment, including for example where the foreign court acted without jurisdiction, the proceedings involved a breach of natural justice, or recognition would be contrary to public policy.
The Government engages regularly with the judiciary and stakeholders about the operation of frameworks for recognition and enforcement.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide education and training in Welsh at Berwyn Prison for inmates whose first language is Welsh.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
All learners at HMP Berwyn are entitled to access their education through the medium of Welsh should they choose to do so and are asked their language preference on arrival at the prison, and during their education induction. Although take up is historically low, this is facilitated through translated course materials, opportunities to complete assessments in Welsh, and classroom support provided by Welsh speaking staff working within the Education team. Welsh language courses are available to all prisoners on request, alongside a bilingual course on Welsh traditions and customs.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote literacy enrichment in the criminal justice system as part of the National Year of Reading.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to question PQ HL 14560 to Lord Weir on 23 February 2026.
The National Year of Reading is a welcome opportunity to promote a wide range of activity to improve literacy and engagement with reading for people in custody and on probation.
As part of this work we have appointed the first ever Prison Reading Laureate, the author Lee Child. He will champion the transformative power of reading across the criminal justice system, continue expansion of his successful literacy pilot programme which has been running in a number of prisons since 2025 and will bring in more authors to work with prisons across the country, promoting the benefits of reading to rehabilitation.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS who work with many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations such as the Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. A programme of work is planned throughout this year to improve national access to books and facilitate workshops with authors. The Youth Custody Service is also launching its first ever Literacy Festival to inspire reading amongst some of the most complex children in our society.