Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the recommendations of the Civil Justice Council's 2025 review, whether he plans to introduce legislation to clarify that third-party litigation funding agreements are not treated as damages-based agreements.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the critical role third-party litigation funding plays in access to justice and is committed to ensuring it works fairly for all.
The Government welcomes the Civil Justice Council review of litigation funding, which will help inform the approach to potential reforms. We are considering the report carefully and will outline next steps in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) delays and (b) delays relating to (i) rape and (ii) domestic homicide in the criminal justice system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. It is unacceptable that victims and witnesses are waiting years for justice. This has left tens of thousands of victims facing devastating delays for justice.
We are committed to creating a more sustainable justice system, in which victims and the public can have confidence. Upon taking office, the Deputy Prime Minister took immediate action to allocate additional Crown Court sitting days this financial year, taking the total to 111,250 sitting days.
However, demand is currently so high, it is indisputable that fundamental reform is needed. That is why this Government commissioned the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to propose once-in-a-generation reform to improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swift justice for victims. Part one of the report has now been published. We are carefully considering Sir Brian’s proposals and will respond in due course.
The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services. To ensure these services can continue to be delivered, we have protected dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls victims spending in the Department by maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support this year. The Ministry of Justice also funds the Homicide Service, which provides tailored support to families bereaved by domestic homicide.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Legal Aid Agency has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much HM Courts and Tribunals Service has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested can be found in the table below.
Translation:
FY | Translation |
FY21-22 | £ 51,231.54 |
FY22-23 | £ 113,487.07 |
FY23-24 | £ 140,829.23 |
FY24-25 | £ 126,433.75 |
FY25-26 | £ 78,995.19 |
Total | £ 510,976.78 |
Interpreting:
FY | Interpreting |
FY21/22 | £ 22,225,742.45 |
FY22/23 | £ 27,362,968.49 |
FY23/24 | £ 31,022,423.14 |
FY24/25 | £ 32,390,150.55 |
FY25/26 | £ 20,517,115.66 |
Total | £ 133,518,400.29 |
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers whilst maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answers of 29 October 2025 to Question 84015 on Legal Aid Scheme: Ely and East Cambridgeshire and of 17 November 2025 to Question 88053 on Legal Aid Scheme: Ely and East Cambridgeshire, what criteria the Legal Aid Agency uses to assess the adequacy of access to legal aid services in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 November to Question 86918 which sets out methodology used to assess supply of legal aid services.
As set out in that response civil legal aid services are commissioned and monitored at procurement area level and the basic criteria used is whether each category of law has at least the minimum number of contracts.
Criminal legal aid services are commissioned at a national level but as set out in the response to question 86918 the Legal Aid Agency ensures demand under the local duty scheme is met i.e. there is cover for all available slots on the duty solicitor rota.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for all appeals involving Surrey County Council the number of cases in which the Tribunal issued a) a notice proposing that the local authority be barred from further participation and b) a barring order preventing the local authority from taking further part in the appeal, reported separately for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 to date.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the policy paper published on 9 November by the Bar Council, Tackling violence against women and girls – why family courts are key.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has read the Bar Council’s policy paper with interest and agrees that the family courts play a key role in our commitment to halve incidences of violence against women and girls over the next decade.
We agree with the Bar Council that proper data and analysis is an essential first step. The Government funded the recently published Family Court Review and Reporting Mechanism pilot, led by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and will publish a response to the report by the end of the year.
This Government also recognises that legal aid is a vital part of the justice system, supporting the ability of individuals to access publicly funded legal assistance to uphold their legal rights. Legal aid is available for certain private family matters such as child arrangements if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused, subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests. Last year we spent £854 million on the provision of family legal aid and we continue to keep the policy under review.
With our partners across the family justice system, we are committed to long-term reform of the family courts to better support and protect victims of domestic abuse and serious violence and their children. Central to this is our new Pathfinder model, which uses a more investigative and less adversarial approach for private law proceedings relating to children and is now operating in nine court areas, with expansion to a tenth in January 2026.
The Government will be publishing our new, cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy as soon as possible.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the process in which domestic abuse cases reach the family court in a) the north west and b) Warrington.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to improving the experience of victims of domestic abuse in the family courts across England and Wales, including in the north west and Warrington.
In early 2026, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) plans to roll out a new digital service for applications for non-molestation orders and occupation orders. This service will make it easier and quicker for applicants to submit applications for these protective orders via an online portal.
Additional support is available to litigants in person via CourtNav, a free online tool operated by RCJ Advice, a citizens advice and law centre dedicated to improving access to justice. CourtNav guides individuals through applying for non-molestation and occupation orders, assisting with drafting applications and supporting statements. Applicants also have the option to have their application checked by a legal adviser, who can help identify the most appropriate course of action.
To streamline the process, the CourtNav system can automatically direct applications to HMCTS’s digital service. This enables information entered in CourtNav to transfer directly into the HMCTS system, ensuring better integration and efficiency when applications are submitted to the court.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 86689, what information his Department holds on the number of court cases that (a) did not progress and (b) were delayed due to the non-attendance of professional witnesses in 1). England and 2). Greater Manchester in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
An ineffective trial is a trial that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date, and so a further listing is required. This can be due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence or the court. If a trial is deemed ineffective due to the witness being absent, this would indicate that the trial has been delayed.
The Ministry of Justice publishes ineffective trials statistics by reason including trials that are rescheduled due to “prosecution witness absent – professional/expert” here: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. These statistics can be filtered by Local Criminal Justice Board to isolate figures for Greater Manchester. We do not have access to data on ineffective trials due to the absence of a defence professional witness.
The Ministry of Justice cannot provide data on cases that “did not progress” due to the non-attendance of professional witnesses. This information would only be held in the individual court records for cases that are discontinued, and examination of these records would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to introduce Jade's Law.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to implementing Section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which introduces an automatic restriction on the exercise of parental responsibility where one parent has been convicted and sentenced for the murder or voluntary manslaughter of the other. The provision will come into force on a day appointed via regulations made by the Secretary of State, following the development of the necessary procedural and legislative frameworks to support its effective delivery.
Officials are working with key delivery partners including Local Authorities, the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Police Chiefs Council and HMCTS across the criminal and family justice systems, to ensure effective implementation. This includes considering potential consequential amendments to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, as well as supporting Practice Directions and statutory guidance.