Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what offences will have the right to elect restricted by the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Bill removes a defendants’ right to elect Crown Court trial for all triable either-way offences. The venue will be determined by the magistrates’ courts, which will send cases they consider outside of their jurisdiction to the Crown Court.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what offences will be reclassified by the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Courts and Tribunals Bill does not reclassify offences - it changes allocation and mode of trial arrangements within the existing classification framework.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 22 January 2026 on Response to Legal Aid Agency cyber attack, HCWS1265, how much funding will be allocated to the transformation programme for Legal Aid Agency digital services.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The amount of funding which will be allocated to the transformation programme for Legal Aid Agency digital services is subject to final budget allocation decisions, which are currently ongoing.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what offences will be eligible for trial without jury by the Crown Court Bench Division proposal in the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Courts and Tribunals Bill introduces judge-only trials for triable either-way offences where the courts assess that the likely custodial sentence, applying the relevant sentencing guidelines to the alleged facts and any appropriate representations, is three years imprisonment or less. Indictable-only offences are excluded and will not be eligible for this mode of trial, described as the Crown Court Bench Division.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers, (c) special advisers and (d) officials in his Department have had with the organisers of the Forest City 1 campaign.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has received proposals for a large-scale new community, Forest City 1, located to the east of Cambridge.
Officials will review this proposal in the usual way, including through a meeting with the promoters.
Details of meetings that special advisers have with external organisations are published on gov.uk in line with requirements set out in the relevant guidance which can be found here.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's written statement entitled Investment in high needs place of 15 December 2025, what evidential basis her department is using to promote internal alternative provision for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, which is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more flexible support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs, alongside expanding or creating special and alternative provision schools.
Pupil support units are used as a planned intervention to support pupils with additional needs, including behaviour difficulties, and to improve their engagement with mainstream education.
The department has reviewed the existing evidence base, including findings from the department's school and college voice omnibus surveys, and third-party reports.
The department’s ‘Explorative research into In-School Support Units’ found that improvements in outcomes were perceived to span behaviour, attendance and attainment, as well as softer outcomes including improvements in feelings of belonging.
We are working with the sector to develop guidance applicable to pupil support units.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases exceeded the statutory time limit of six months for summary offences in each year since 2020, broken down by (a) offence, and (b) police force.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of cases that exceeded the statutory time limit of six months for summary offences. We are unable to exclude cases from our timeliness data that are exempt from the time limit and cases that have been reopened.
Timeliness estimates from offence to charge for defendants dealt with in summary only cases at the magistrates’ courts are available in Table T3 of the published Criminal Courts Statistics release available at the following link: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce (a) a grace period and (b) transitional arrangements for British nationals impacted by changes to passport rules regarding dual nationals.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have been clear on the requirement for dual British citizens to travel with a valid British passport or Certificate of Entitlement. This requirement applies equally to all British citizens.
We recognise the enforcement of ETAs by carriers is a significant change, and so we have provided additional temporary guidance to carriers on possible alternative documentation and have put in place around the clock support for carriers to prepare for these changes.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases exceeded the statutory time limit of six months for summary offences because of misclassification in each year since 2020.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the number of cases that exceeded the statutory time limit of six months for summary offences. This is because we are unable to identify all cases that exceed six months that would be exempt from the statutory time limits in our caseload data.
Timeliness estimates from offence to charge for defendants dealt with in summary only cases at the magistrates’ courts are available in Table T3 of the published Criminal Courts Statistics release available at the following link: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, how much each local authority will receive from the £3 billion investment in SEND school places.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. This funding is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. We will confirm local authority allocations later this spring.