Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what her proposed timetable is for launching the consultation on the reform of weddings law in England and Wales; and what the proposed duration of that consultation will be.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We will be undertaking the consultation on the reform of weddings law in England and Wales early this year. The exact publication date and duration is yet to be confirmed.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ascertain the position of Chartered Institute of Legal Executives practitioners who qualified through work-based routes, following the judgement in Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] EWHC 2341.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice recognises that the Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] EWHC 2341 judgement and its potential implications have created concern and uncertainty within parts of the legal profession, particularly among Chartered Institute of Legal Executive (CILEX) professionals.
Whilst the legal profession and its regulators operate independently of government, I have been proactively engaging with frontline regulators and representative bodies on the judgement’s implications and the action being taken in response. I convened a meeting with the Legal Services Board (LSB) and relevant frontline regulators to discuss the judgement, its implications, and the steps taken and underway. I have also met members of CILEX’s senior leadership team to discuss the judgement and attended the recent CILEX conference.
CILEx Regulation (CRL) has issued updated guidance, arranged webinars for practitioners, and secured approval from the LSB to allow standalone litigation practice rights. It has also been ensuring readiness for practice rights applications and working with partners to support practitioners. CILEX has been providing regular updates to its members on these actions, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Law Society have also published guidance to support professionals. The LSB is also reviewing how regulators ensured information and guidance provided to the profession on conducting litigation was accurate and reliable. It has published the scope and timings for this review on its website. Separately from these steps, CILEX has also been granted permission to appeal the judgment to the Court of Appeal.
While I am satisfied that appropriate practical steps are being taken to address the issues raised by the judgement and provide clarity and support for affected CILEX professionals, we will continue to work closely with the LSB, frontline regulators, and representative bodies to monitor whether further action is required.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for Child Maintenance Service appeals that proceed to a Tribunal.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Appeals against Child Maintenance Service decisions are heard by the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, which is part of the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.
The Ministry of Justice is working to reduce the outstanding caseload across the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, which includes the Social Security and Child Support jurisdiction. This is key to reducing the waiting time for tribunal hearings.
The Department continues to invest in improving tribunal capacity and productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, the deployment of additional Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of new, modern case management systems, and the use of remote hearing technology where appropriate. If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will consider this, taking all the circumstances into account.
We expect these actions to have a positive effect, improving timeliness and overall performance of the Tribunal in Child Maintenance Service appeals, and the Social Entitlement Chamber more broadly.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the condition of court buildings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a crumbling court estate – a symbol of a crumbling justice system. Historical underfunding over the last 14 years has resulted in challenges across the court and tribunal estate, with an estimated maintenance backlog of £1.3 billion.
It is vital that the infrastructure of our courts and tribunals does not prevent hearings from taking place and that court conditions are acceptable for the staff who serve within the system and the public that are served by it. It is a government priority to ensure that cases can be heard, and victims can be given the justice that they deserve. That is why this Government announced a boost in court and tribunal capital maintenance and project funding from £120 million last year, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.
HMCTS keeps the condition of court buildings under review. Maintenance funding is prioritised to meet operational priorities and make sure our courts and tribunal are safe, secure, meet statutory requirements and protect continuity of service We are also investing in the courts of the future - delivering new, modern and sustainable buildings that meet the needs of a changing justice system. This includes the new 18 courtroom City of London Law Courts, a new 30 hearing room London Tribunals building, and a purpose-built Magistrates’ and County Court in Blackpool.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the time taken to register a power of attorney.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) aims to register lasting powers of attorney (LPA) within eight weeks, including a legally required four-week notice period for objections.
A backlog that built up during the COVID-19 pandemic was successfully cleared by November 2024. From then until March 2025, OPG consistently met the 40-day registration target.
Due to sustained increases in demand and an isolated and local power outage in March 2025, registration is currently taking slightly longer than the OPG target. OPG is addressing this through recruitment efforts, overtime, and new scanning systems to improve efficiency.
Plans to modernise LPAs will allow LPAs to be fully made and registered online for the first time, with paper option retained. Digitisation will improve accessibility, reduce errors, and shorten processing times.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which (a) legal authority and (b) procedural rules permit judges to withhold notes from employment tribunal hearings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 do not apply to information gathered and personal data processed in proceedings before the courts and tribunals. Together these exemptions protect judicial independence and judicial proceedings, allowing the courts and tribunals to maintain judicial control over access to information in proceedings, ensuring that access to information is provided through existing access and discovery regimes.
With respect to the Employment Tribunal, access to audio recordings and transcription of recordings is governed by the Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings. This includes details of how and the circumstances in which a party may be able to access audio-recordings, request a transcript of proceedings, or obtain a Judge’s notes of a hearing.
The Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings, can be found at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PD-recording-and-transcription-final.pdf.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of magistrates recruited since the 2022 recruitment campaign.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Recruitment rates for the magistracy are published in the annual Judicial Diversity Statistics, found here. As of 01 April 2024, there were 14,576 active magistrates in England and Wales, an increase of 2,907 since the start of the Magistrate Attraction and Recruitment Campaign in January 2022. Of these, 786 were re-appointments following changes to the Mandatory Retirement Age. The next set of statistics for the period April 2024 to March 2025 will be published in July 2025.