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.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings ministers in the Ministry of Justice have had with promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill since November 2020.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers in the Ministry of Justice have had 12 meetings with the Sponsors of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Kim Leadbeater MP and Lord Falconer of Thoroton).
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many officials (1) in total, and (2) in number of full-time equivalent staff, have been involved in supporting the promoters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the Ministry of Justice since November 2020.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of full-time equivalent staff involved in providing technical drafting support and workability advice to the Sponsors of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has fluctuated since January 2025. As of 1 September 2025, there were 3.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials in the Ministry of Justice.
Where required, contributions on specific issues may have been sought from other teams; however, the FTE cannot be accurately quantified for these issues.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect HMP Millsike to be operating at full capacity.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMP Millsike officially opened in March 2025 and received the first cohort of prisoners on 23 April. To ensure stability, the prison will ramp up to full capacity gradually and is intended to be at full capacity by spring 2026. Ramp up will be strictly monitored and can be adjusted or paused should the safety or stability of the prison require it.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to reopen HMP Dartmoor, and if so when.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Dartmoor has been temporarily closed since August 2024 after radon monitoring results were higher than expected. We are working with specialist radon experts to investigate whether we can re-open the prison safely.
A decision on re-opening will be made based on the viability of the site, cost and efficiency of works to reduce levels of radon and value for the public purse.
The health and safety of prisoners and staff continues to be our top priority.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have started preparing a shadow body of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Government has not started preparing a shadow body of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Commissioner. This is a provision of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, on which the Government remains neutral and which is still under consideration by Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy that civil partnerships can be dissolved at any county court.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
As of 22nd April 2014, the County Court no longer has the jurisdiction to consider divorce or civil partnership dissolution applications. These are now considered by the Family Court.
Hearings in divorce and civil partnership dissolution cases are rare, but from April 2015 if a hearing is required then it can be accommodated at any Family Court venue with the appropriate judicial expertise.