Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Minister acted as the qualified person in regard to FOI request 251030055, which asked for the briefing pack used by Paul Candler, Policy Director at the Ministry of Justice when he appeared before the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee on 29 October 2025 to be shared.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I can confirm that I acted as the qualified person for this Freedom of Information Act request.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they conduct fingerprint checks on (1) prisoners, (2) convicts and (3) those on remand, upon being released from prison.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) does not require fingerprint checks to be conducted routinely at the point of release for prisoners, convicted individuals, or those held on remand. Where biometric data, such as fingerprints, is available, it will be checked as part of identity assurance during release procedures. The same discharge policy applies to remand prisoners who are released following a court appearance.
Dame Lynne Owens is conducting an independent review which will consider whether current discharge processes are robust and make recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to update the Mental Capacity Act 2005 by bringing into force uncommenced sections of (1) the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, and (2) the Powers of Attorney Act 2023, and on what timescale.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has overall responsibility for the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. The Act provides a framework for making decisions on behalf of adults who are unable to do so for themselves.
The Department for Health and Social Care is responsible for the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. This provides for a new system of safeguards (Liberty Protection Safeguards, or LPS) in care and treatment settings when a person lacks capacity and cannot consent to a deprivation of liberty.
The Government announced on 18 October the intention to consult on LPS. This consultation is planned to take place in 2026.
The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 introduced several provisions to enable modernisation of the Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) system, to increase safeguards in the process and improve access to LPAs. This is a complex project and it is important we take the time to get the new service design right. We will give more information in due course about readiness for testing the modernised service.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede on 10 April (HL6224), whether they have now started preparing a shadow body of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has not started preparing a shadow body of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner. The Government remains neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which is still under consideration by Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how many hours the (1) Family Court, and (2) Family Division of the High Court, sat in (a) 2023, and (b) 2024.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for hours sat as family sittings for both the County Court and the High Court are recorded in days. This data can be found in the Royal Courts of Justice Annual Tables, table 9.2 as below:
Year | Days Sat in the High court - Family division(1) | Days sat in the Family court(2) |
2023 | 2,518 | 132,855 |
2024 | 2,895 | 124,280 |
Notes:
These figures represent only the days sat in court or in chambers in the jurisdictions shown. Judges sit in other areas (for example, High Court hearings in regional County Courts are not currently included) and also undertake a range of other functions outside the courtroom that are not shown here.
Includes Private and other family figures including family: divorce sitting days.
HMCTS does not hold data on how many cases were heard in the Family Court and Family Division of the High Court. However, data on the total number of cases disposed of, which includes both hearings and out of court disposals are in table 1 of the Family Court Statistics as shown below:
Cases reaching a final disposal | |
Year | Total cases disposed |
2023 | 235,184 |
2024 | 245,691 |
Source: HMCTS FamilyMan and Core Case Data
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases the (1) Family Court, and (2) Family Division of the High Court, heard in (a) 2023, and (b) 2024.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for hours sat as family sittings for both the County Court and the High Court are recorded in days. This data can be found in the Royal Courts of Justice Annual Tables, table 9.2 as below:
Year | Days Sat in the High court - Family division(1) | Days sat in the Family court(2) |
2023 | 2,518 | 132,855 |
2024 | 2,895 | 124,280 |
Notes:
These figures represent only the days sat in court or in chambers in the jurisdictions shown. Judges sit in other areas (for example, High Court hearings in regional County Courts are not currently included) and also undertake a range of other functions outside the courtroom that are not shown here.
Includes Private and other family figures including family: divorce sitting days.
HMCTS does not hold data on how many cases were heard in the Family Court and Family Division of the High Court. However, data on the total number of cases disposed of, which includes both hearings and out of court disposals are in table 1 of the Family Court Statistics as shown below:
Cases reaching a final disposal | |
Year | Total cases disposed |
2023 | 235,184 |
2024 | 245,691 |
Source: HMCTS FamilyMan and Core Case Data
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government on which clauses and amendments the Ministry of Justice have provided advice on legal and practical workability to the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has provided legal and workability advice to the Sponsors across the entire Bill.
Where the Government has provided advice to the Sponsors on specific amendments, Ministers have referred to this within their remarks at Committee and Report Stage in the House of Commons. Parliamentary Counsel has provided the technical drafting for the amendments tabled by the Sponsors.
All advice provided to the Sponsor in relation to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been to ensure the coherence of the statute book, and to help ensure the Bill is workable. The Government has remained neutral on the matter of assisted dying, and will continue to take this approach through the Bill’s passage in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 2 October (HL10681), whether they will publish the notes of the meetings with the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill and the actions taken as a result of those meetings in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government does not intend to place the notes of meetings with the Sponsors of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill into the Library of the House.
As my honourable friend the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services discussed with the House of Lords Select Committee considering the Bill on 29 October, the Government has worked with the Sponsors to ensure the Bill is workable, in order to fulfil the Government’s duty of care to the statute book, whilst remaining neutral on the matter of assisted dying.
The Ministry of Justice recognises the importance of promoting openness and transparency in Government. However, it is also in the public interest that the Government can engage confidentially with the Sponsors, so that the advice provided in relation to the operability and soundness of the Bill can be free and frank – both in relation to this Bill and any future private member’s Bill where the Government engages closely with the Sponsor.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether legitimate undercover journalism is considered a "reasonable excuse" for the purposes of the offence of taking or recording intimate photograph or film under Schedule 9(2) of the Crime and Policing Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The proposed new section 66AA(5) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 states that: “It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that the person had a reasonable excuse for taking the photograph or recording the film”.
This would be a fact-sensitive decision to be made by the court on a case-by-case basis.
That said, the position of a journalist working undercover is one of the situations in which the Government has envisaged that the defence might apply.
The public-facing CPS Legal Guidance Assessing the Public Interest in Cases Affecting the Media [Media: Assessing the Public Interest in Cases Affecting the Media | The Crown Prosecution Service] provides further guidance to prosecutors in dealing with scenarios such as this, including the application of the Public Interest Test.
Therefore, any journalist being investigated for an offence would also be entitled to make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions, relying on the Legal Guidance, that a prosecution should not take place because it did not meet the Full Code Test for prosecution.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) arrests, (2) charges, (3) prosecutions, and (4) convictions, have been made under the Suicide Act 1961 in the past ten years.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice collates data on the number of prosecutions and convictions for specific offences, including those under section 2 (1) of the Suicide Act 1961 which are shown below:
Values | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2023 | 2024 |
Proceeded against | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Convicted | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. Arrests and police charges data are held by the Home Office.