Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to lay a Legislative Reform Order to permit outdoor religious weddings.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission’s 2022 report on weddings raises a number of issues around weddings law, including giving greater choice in how and where individuals can get married.
Given marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, it is right that we take the time to carefully consider this report. An update on our position on weddings reform will come soon.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) she and (b) her Ministers have had discussions with (i) the Chair and (ii) members of the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia to discuss its work.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Details of ministers' meetings with external stakeholders and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Data for the period of July to September 2025 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the (a) applicants and (b) Community Law Partnership received legal aid in relation to the case that resulted in the High Court decision of [2024] EWHC 1137 (Admin).
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Whether or not an individual is in receipt of legal aid constitutes their personal data. Having regard to data protection legislation, it is not possible to disclose whether the Claimant in this matter received legal aid.
Legal representatives only receive legal aid funding to the extent that they represent a client in whose favour legal aid has been granted.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will commission research on the potential impact of (a) first and (b) second cousin marriage on local communities.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We are aware that all aspects of weddings law, including first cousin marriage, are important. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Department responsible for community cohesion, including policy on faith, belief, and diasporic communities, and regularly undertakes work to understand and support local communities.
At the Ministry of Justice, we are taking the time to properly consider weddings law, before publicly setting out our position.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 52265 on Repossession Orders: Private Rented Housing, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill on court waiting times for private rented sector repossession claims.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As with any piece of legislation, the Government works across Departments to assess the impact. We continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to assess and agree the impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill on the justice system. We regularly publish statistics on Court and tribunal waiting times and this will continue as this Bill is implemented.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what statistics (a) her Department and (b) His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service collates on court waiting times for private rented sector repossession claims.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on timeliness for private landlord claims. The latest data for the quarter January to March 2025 was published on 15 May 2025. This data is available in table 6 which can be found:
Mortgage_and_Landlord_Possession_Tables_Q1_Jan_to_Mar_2025.ods.
The possession type can be filtered to private landlord in the dropdown above the table.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 41588 on Private Rented Housing: Energy Performance Certificate, whether expenditure on the upgrading of an Energy Performance Certificate to a higher level of energy efficiency is a material consideration that allows for a higher market rent to be issued.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A market rent decision in the First-tier Tribunal is a judicial decision and expenditure on the upgrading of an Energy Performance Certificate to a higher level of energy efficiency is a material consideration which may result, in certain circumstances, in a higher market rent being determined by the First-tier Tribunal.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of judicial reviews by Client Earth to (a) her Department and (b) its agencies.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
There have been no judicial reviews by Client Earth against the Ministry of Justice or its agencies.
While Client Earth has brought judicial review cases against several other Government Departments, there is no centrally held data on the total cost of these cases.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to lay the legislative reform order consulted on by the previous government on allowing faith groups to hold outdoor religious weddings.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission’s 2022 report on weddings raises a number of issues around weddings law, including giving greater choice in how and where individuals can get married.
Given marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, it is right that we take the time to carefully consider this report before we set out our position on weddings reform in the coming months.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025, to Question 41312 on Empty Dwelling Management Orders, what information HM Courts and Tribunals Services holds on the issuing of Empty Dwelling Management Orders.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Residential Property division compiles only aggregated statistics for receipts of interim Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMO) approved and final EDMO appeals.
Over the last five years EDMO receipts were as follows:
Year | Receipts |
23/24 | 0 |
22/23 | 0 |
21/22 | 3 |
20/21 | 5 |
19/20 | 10* |
*The data recorded is unpublished management information and has not been subject to the same quality checks as Official Statistics, which are published by the Ministry of Justice.