Asked by: Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is his Department’s timescale for the distribution of updated materials on the Victims Code to police forces; and what assessment has he made of adherence to that timescale.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We launched the consultation on a new Victims’ Code on 5 February, which will be open to responses for 12 weeks. Following consideration of the consultation responses, and any subsequent changes, we will issue a government response and then issue the new Code in accordance with the Parliamentary process set out in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. We will update and distribute revised materials alongside the new Code.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison education staff, according to annual delivery plan data, were employed in January (a) 2025, and (b) 2026, by prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are committed to ensuring that prisoners can access high-quality education and skills provision that supports rehabilitation and reduces re-offending.
The curriculum delivered through core education contracts is decided at local level, as is the number of education staff employed. It would not be possible to obtain this information from each prison without incurring disproportionate cost. It should be noted that the majority of teaching staff are employed by external providers.
In the interests of transparency, we intend to publish figures for changes to core education delivery volumes at individual prison level in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison education staff were employed in January (a) 2025, and (b) 2026, by prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are committed to ensuring that prisoners can access high-quality education and skills provision that supports rehabilitation and reduces re-offending.
The curriculum delivered through core education contracts is decided at local level, as is the number of education staff employed. It would not be possible to obtain this information from each prison without incurring disproportionate cost. It should be noted that the majority of teaching staff are employed by external providers.
In the interests of transparency, we intend to publish figures for changes to core education delivery volumes at individual prison level in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for a breakdown of what prison education courses, according to annual delivery plan data, were provided in January (a) 2025, and (b) 2026, by prison, level of qualification and duration.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are committed to ensuring that prisoners can access high-quality education and skills provision that supports rehabilitation and reduces re-offending.
The curriculum delivered through core education contracts is decided at local level, as is the number of education staff employed. It would not be possible to obtain this information from each prison without incurring disproportionate cost. It should be noted that the majority of teaching staff are employed by external providers.
In the interests of transparency, we intend to publish figures for changes to core education delivery volumes at individual prison level in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 3 February (HL14086), what plans they have, if any, to use the ethnicity harmonised standards in published statistics; why the Offender Management Statistics use the 6+1 identity code system; and whether they plan to start to use the 18+1 identity code system.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In accordance with the principles embodied in the Code of Practice for Statistics; Trustworthiness, Quality and Value, we keep statistics for publication under continuous review. Uniform standards across Government are applied wherever appropriate, including in the reporting of ethnicity, where it is necessary to balance the benefit of a high level of detail in data gathering, against ease of interpretation for those reporting the information, and the value of consistency in reporting over time.
In the case of Offender Management Statistics, the 18+1 classification is used for the ethnicity information published in the annual prison population tables, which supplement the 6+1 series produced quarterly.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has issued to conveyancers, the Land Registry, or other stakeholders on the application of perpetuity rules to commercial land instruments following the enactment of the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No guidance has been issued by the Ministry of Justice since the Act came into force. The explanatory notes to the legislation set out the effects of the changes to the law: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/18/notes/contents.
This is a complex and technical area of law. Individuals should seek independent legal advice on how the Act applies to their unique circumstances.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the current number of either-way cases in the present Crown Court backlog that have yet to elect mode of trial.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information about cases in the open caseload at both the magistrates’ courts and at the Crown Court. This includes breakdowns of volumes and durations as part of the Crown Court open caseload published as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly: Criminal court statistics quarterly.
The Ministry of Justice does not publish data relating to the progression of cases or mode of trial in the open caseload.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the proportion of cases in the backlog are still pending the decision of the defendant to elect mode of trial.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information about cases in the open caseload at both the magistrates’ courts and at the Crown Court. This includes breakdowns of volumes and durations as part of the Crown Court open caseload published as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly: Criminal court statistics quarterly.
The Ministry of Justice does not publish data relating to the progression of cases or mode of trial in the open caseload.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has information on the median age of cases that have yet to elect mode of trial.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information about cases in the open caseload at both the magistrates’ courts and at the Crown Court. This includes breakdowns of volumes and durations as part of the Crown Court open caseload published as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly: Criminal court statistics quarterly.
The Ministry of Justice does not publish data relating to the progression of cases or mode of trial in the open caseload.
Asked by: Lewis Atkinson (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average Crown Court waiting time is for sexual offences in England and (b) Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board; and what steps he is taking to help reduce those waiting times.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Waiting time is the time that a defendant spends at the Crown Court before the main hearing starts (for example, the trial). The latest data to Q3 2025 shows that the median waiting time for sexual offences in England was 27 weeks and was 32 in the Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB).
The Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts and, after considering the recommendations made in the report, we have announced our intention to take forward a bold package of structural reforms designed to speed up justice for all victims, including victims of sexual offences. This financial year we also funded 111,250 Crown Court sitting days – an all-time high - so that more cases could be heard.
We have also published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy - ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’ - setting out the Government’s approach to tackling sexual and other offences perpetrated against women and girls. We are already acting by:
Supporting victims with the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support services over the next three years;
Announcing a package of court measures to protect victims, particularly of sexual offences, from unnecessary and intrusive cross-examination about their personal lives.