Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2025 to Question 47976 on Prison: Crimes against the Person, if she will provide a further breakdown by nationality.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of individuals involved in incidents of an assault on staff within prisons in England and Wales, by nationality, for 2020 to 2024, can be found in the accompanying table.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban Sharia courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has no plans to regulate or restrict religious processes (such as sharia courts) where all parties consent to those processes. This is consistent with Britain’s long history of freedom of worship and religious tolerance.
Sharia Courts are not part of the judicial system in England and Wales.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether their Department plans to amend its policies on access to (a) toilets, (b) changing facilities and (c) other single-sex spaces in (i) Departmental buildings and (ii) other buildings within their Department’s remit following the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers and government departments should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to reduce court backlogs affecting residents of Great Yarmouth constituency.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. We have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days this financial year to tackle the outstanding caseload. As part of our commitment to bearing down on the caseload we have increased magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 months to 12 months’ imprisonment for single triable-either way offences. This will free up capacity in the Crown Court, ensuring it is reserved for the more serious and complex cases.
However, the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days alone can achieve. This is why we have commissioned an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to consider the merits of longer-term reform and the efficiency of processes in the criminal courts.
In Great Yarmouth, we continue to maximise the use of our Crown court estate to increase the number of cases we sit, by utilising a room in Whitefriars for video hearings and an additional room in King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court (in addition to Norwich Combined). For the Magistrates’ Court, recruitment of legal advisors has taken place, resulting in increased hearings in the autumn, following training.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of halal food served in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on the quantity and proportion of halal food served in prisons is not collected centrally. To obtain the requested information, it would therefore be necessary to consult each of the 122 prisons in England and Wales individually, and this could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison staff there have been in each of the last five years, by religion of the prisoner.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of individuals involved in incidents of an assault on staff within prisons in England and Wales, by religion, for 2020 to 2024, can be found in the accompanying table.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what exemptions from security measures on religious grounds exist in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No prisoners are exempt from searches by sniffer dogs.
During a cell search, care must be taken when handling religious artefacts, and search dogs must not come into contact with religious artefacts or holy books. Prisoners must be asked to point these out before the search, so that staff can search them by hand before the dog enters the cell.
Any request by a prisoner in the men’s estate for exemption from being searched by a female member of staff, on religious or philosophical grounds, must be made formally and considered as quickly as possible. The prisoner should not be searched by female staff in the intervening period.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what exemptions exist in prisons for Muslims not to be searched by sniffer dogs on religious grounds.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No prisoners are exempt from searches by sniffer dogs.
During a cell search, care must be taken when handling religious artefacts, and search dogs must not come into contact with religious artefacts or holy books. Prisoners must be asked to point these out before the search, so that staff can search them by hand before the dog enters the cell.
Any request by a prisoner in the men’s estate for exemption from being searched by a female member of staff, on religious or philosophical grounds, must be made formally and considered as quickly as possible. The prisoner should not be searched by female staff in the intervening period.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of immigration-related litigation on the capacity of the (a) family and (b) criminal courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Lord Chancellor regularly reviews the discharge of her statutory obligations to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the system to support the carrying on of business in both the criminal courts and the family courts. This includes ongoing assessments on the sufficiency of court capacity, including funded sitting days, to meet incoming demand.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many recipients of legal aid in immigration cases have been convicted of criminal offences.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information is not centrally held.