Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of legal aid they envisage being made available for each individual bereaved person and family at inquests in England and Wales for (1) legal help, and (2) advocacy, under the provisions of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will provide non-means tested legal aid to bereaved family members at any inquests where a public authority is named as an interested person.
Under the Bill, an “individual” is defined as being a member of another individual’s family if they are relatives (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership), they are cohabitants (as defined in Part 4 25 of the Family Law Act 1996), or one has parental responsibility for the other.
Legal aid consists of legal help and advocacy.
a. Legal help covers advice, assistance and preparation for an inquest but not advocacy at the hearing. Under the Bill’s expansion, multiple bereaved family members will be able to receive non-means tested legal help services where a public authority is named as an interested person.
b. Advocacy covers the instruction of an advocate (usually a barrister) to prepare for and attend the inquest hearing(s) to make submissions. The Bill limits advocacy funding to one member of each family – in practice, this level of service will be granted to the first family member to apply. We believe that one legally aided advocate should in most cases be sufficient to support each family through the inquest hearing and that it is reasonable to ask members of the same family to collaborate in the instruction of a single advocate.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 24 November 2025 (HL11755), what are the reasons for the delay in bringing the provisions of section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into effect; and what is the timeframe for bringing those provisions into effect.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As with many criminal law provisions, section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is brought into force by regulations made by the Secretary of State, to ensure sufficient time to take into account and manage impacts on the criminal justice system and operational preparedness.
We have now laid the regulations to bring section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into force; they were signed by Minister Davies-Jones last week. The offences will come into force on 6 February (21 days after being signed) as is standard practice for new criminal offences.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of Crown Courts had specialist rape courts in place on 1 January 2026.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have a record and rising backlog, and as a result rape cases are waiting too long to be heard. We are therefore taking decisive action to address this backlog through bold court reforms, which we announced following Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. These reforms will speed up justice for all victims, including those of rape.
Alongside these reforms we are committed to improving the experience of attending court for victims of rape across all Crown Courts. We will be introducing a package of legislative measures to improve victims’ experience of giving evidence and to end reliance on so-called rape myths in the courtroom; we are rolling-out trauma-informed training for all HMCTS criminal court staff; and we have also committed to ensuring that the Operation Soteria model, which focuses investigations on the suspect and away from the victim, is continued in the courtroom post-charge.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to help protect the privacy of people affected by fatal or serious accidents.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to open justice which means criminal justice should be administered in public and subject to public scrutiny including media reporting. However, there are exceptions in statute or common law which: exclude the press/public from court for all/part of proceedings; permit information to be withheld from open court; or impose temporary/permanent bans on reporting of proceedings or part of proceedings (e.g. identity of those appearing).
Automatic reporting restrictions are applied to complainants in rape cases and all other sexual offences. There is a ban on reporting any matter that would identify a child or young person (under 18) in the Youth Court, whether that is a victim, witness or defendant. Victims of Female Genital Mutilation, Human Trafficking, and Forced Marriage are also granted automatic anonymity for life.
Lifetime anonymity can be granted to an adult witness or victim in any offence if the quality of the witness’s evidence or their co-operation is likely to be diminished by reason of fear/distress in testifying.
Reporting restrictions are a matter for judicial discretion - decisions on whether to impose these are made on a case by case basis by judges taking into account the circumstances of the case, the parties involved and the interests of justice.
In addition, the Victims’ Code is a practical and useful guide for all victims of crime to understand what they can expect from the criminal justice system. This includes victims of fatal or serious accidents where they constitute a criminal offence. We will consult on a new Victims’ Code in due course to ensure that we get the foundations for victims right.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much it costs per minute to make a call from (1) a prison wing payphone, and (2) an in-cell phone, to (a) a landline, and (b) a mobile phone, at (i) weekdays and (ii) weekends.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Calls from prison wing payphones and in-cell phones are charged at the same national rates.
Calls to UK landlines:
2.48 pence per minute during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
2.20 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday
Calls to UK Mobiles
5.50 pence per minute during the week Sunday to midday Friday
3.60 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday
The Ministry of Justice has reduced call rates in the public prison estate by negotiating a 20% reduction to all UK landline and UK mobile numbers. These rates have applied since 1 April 2025 and support the Department’s commitment to maintaining family contact.
Source: Ministry of Justice letter to the Justice Committee, July 2025: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48682/documents/255236/default
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many and what proportion of (1) men, and (2) women, arriving in custody have self-declared as part of the basic custody screening interview that they have been in the care of local authority children’s services, in each year since 2016.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is set out in the table below. This table provides only a count of Basic Custody Screenings where care experience was disclosed and does not provide this as a proportion of all BCSs completed over the time period so caution should be applied when considering trends.
Years | Number of BCS “Cared For” Entries 1 | Number of BCS “Cared For” Entries 1 |
| Men | Women |
2016-17 | 8706 | 1709 |
2017-18 | 7723 | 1149 |
2018-19 | 7844 | 1369 |
2019-20 | 7688 | 1262 |
2020-21 | 3963 | 773 |
2021-22 | 3468 | 878 |
2022-23 | 3387 | 1000 |
2023-24 | 4079 | 1109 |
2024-25 | 5035 | 1513 |
Note:
Basic Custody Screening data does not provide a full picture of the number of prisoners disclosing care experience each year, as it does not include data for prisoners who choose to disclose care experience at later points during their time in custody.
We know that people taken into care as children are disproportionately likely to end up in the criminal justice system, with research estimating that 24-31 per cent of the adult prison population spent time in care as children.
We are committed to addressing this disproportionality in England and Wales, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system. As part of this, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) plans to publish a new ‘Supporting Prisoners with Care Experience’ policy framework in spring 2026.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had conversations with colleagues in the English Law Promotion Panel on the potential effects of greater use of mediation within the civil justice system on a) investment, b) economic growth, and c) global competitiveness.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The English Law Promotion Panel has been established to support the growth of the legal sector and to strengthen the global competitiveness of English and Welsh law. This initiative forms part of the Government’s mission to drive economic growth, as outlined in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The Panel’s focus is on the international promotion of English and Welsh law, rather than operational or policy matters relating to the domestic justice system. In so doing, the Panel will also explore the extent to which arbitration and mediation can enhance our competitive position.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people of each (1) ethnic group, and (2) religion, were in prison as of 30 September 2025.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is routinely published in H M Prison & Probation Service’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication. It is set out in the attached tables.
The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government under what circumstances a convicted sex offender can obtain a gender recognition certificate while serving a prison sentence for sexual offences.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Applications for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) are considered by the Gender Recognition Panel, which is a judicial tribunal. There are stringent criteria and a high threshold of evidence required for obtaining a GRC and not everyone who applies is granted one.
The allocation of transgender prisoners is based on a careful assessment of risk. Regardless of whether an individual holds a Gender Recognition Certificate, transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending cannot be placed in the general women's estate except in exceptional circumstances, where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Gloucester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many and what proportion of prisoner leavers were assessed as posing high or very high risk of harm between April 2024 and March 2025.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
24,264 prisoner leavers released between April 2024 and March 2025 were assessed as posing high or very high risk of harm at the point of release between April 2024 and March 2025. This is 42% of all releases.
Public protection is this Government’s top priority.
Offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions – including exclusion zones, restriction zones and electronic monitoring – and they can be returned to prison if they breach any of these rules, in such a way as to demonstrate that their risk is no longer manageable in the community.
Notes
For information on the definition of ‘release’ in this context, please see the Notes page of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Releases tables which can be found here: prison-releases-Jan-to-Mar-2025.ods.
Information on release has been drawn from the Prison National Offender Management Information System (P-NOMIS). This has been linked to risk of harm information on National Delius (nDelius), the probation case management system.
Where the release could be matched between the two systems, risk of harm is as assessed at release. In cases where the release could not be matched, the risk of harm is drawn from information on NDelius closest to the release date.
Data are drawn from large administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the information collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system due to possible errors with data entry and processing.