Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the availability and effectiveness of rehabilitation support for individuals with a gambling addiction within the criminal justice system.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) co-commissioned an independent report to inform understanding of the prevalence of gambling harms among those in prison and on probation in the community: Report on Gambling Harms and the Criminal Justice System.
We are committed to rehabilitating those impacted by gambling and its harms, through a rehabilitative culture, positive relationships and pro-social staff. Together with this, HMPPS delivers a broad range of interventions to address individuals’ criminogenic risks and needs, including accredited offending behaviour programmes. In addition, the NHS provides support for individuals who are experiencing gambling addiction.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of gambling-related harm among individuals within the criminal justice system; and what steps he is taking to improve screening and support for problem gambling in prisons and the probation services.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) co-commissioned an independent report to inform understanding of the prevalence of gambling harms among those in prison and on probation in the community: Report on Gambling Harms and the Criminal Justice System.
We are committed to rehabilitating those impacted by gambling and its harms, through a rehabilitative culture, positive relationships and pro-social staff. Together with this, HMPPS delivers a broad range of interventions to address individuals’ criminogenic risks and needs, including accredited offending behaviour programmes. In addition, the NHS provides support for individuals who are experiencing gambling addiction.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of gambling among the prison population; and what steps she is taking to help tackle gambling-related issues in prisons.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) co-commissioned, and subsequently published, an independent report to help inform our understanding of the prevalence of gambling harms among those in prison and on probation in the community. The report was undertaken from 2023-2024 and published in May 2025.
We are committed to rehabilitating those impacted by gambling and its harms, driven by good rehabilitative culture, positive relationships and pro-social staff. Alongside this, HMPPS delivers a broad range of interventions to address individuals’ criminogenic risks and needs, including accredited offending behaviour programmes.
The NHS also provides support for prisoners who are experiencing gambling addiction, and HMPPS is working in partnership with health and social care partners so that people in prison can access the equivalent standard and range of services to those they would receive in the community.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many females have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortion in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many males have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortions in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of current provisions to support people serving a custodial sentences who are experiencing gambling harms.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
HM Prison and Probation Service delivers a broad range of interventions to address individuals’ criminogenic risks and needs, including accredited offending behaviour programmes.
Support for prisoners who are experiencing gambling harms is provided by the NHS. We are working with the NHS to ensure that any gambling intervention provision it commissions is evaluated, and that people in the criminal justice system with associated harms are taken into account and have parity of access to support.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse has been of providing legal advice to immigrants seeking asylum in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available to fund legal advice and representation provided to individuals seeking asylum in England and Wales, subject to an assessment of merits and financial eligibility. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) publishes information regarding legal aid expenditure as part of its official statistics on a quarterly basis, including the cost of legal aid provided in respect of asylum matters funded as Controlled Work. The information requested can be found at column G of table 5.3. Controlled Work covers the provision of legal advice regarding asylum matters and representation before the First Tier (Immigration and Asylum) Tribunal.
The LAA also publishes information about the cost of Legal Representation pertaining to immigration and asylum matters (see tables 6.5 and 6.7). However, due to the way in which this information is recorded on LAA systems, expenditure specifically in relation to asylum cases could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to publish a victim’s charter.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In England and Wales, we have the Victims’ Code rather than a Victim Charter. The Victims’ Code sets out the services and minimum standard for these services that must be provided to victims of crime by service providers. It first came into force in 2005 following the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, and has been updated several times since then, most recently in April 2021.
The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 requires a new Victims’ Code to be issued, which we will consult on this year as part of our commitment to ensure that victims of crime have the information and support they need.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of section 156 (2) of the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 on levels of attacks on workers undertaking public-facing roles.
Answered by Laura Farris
Section 156 (2) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 introduced a new statutory aggravating factor for certain assault offences where they are committed against a person providing a public service, performing a public duty, or providing services to the public. The Government introduced this to ensure that the public-facing nature of a victim's role would be considered, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.
The Ministry of Justice does not collect or publish data on the use of aggravating factors. Currently, there is no specific offence for an attack against a worker undertaking a public-facing role. As assault of a worker in a public-facing role is not a specific offence, we are unable to assess the trends relating to assaults on public-facing workers specifically.
The Government recognises the seriousness of assaults on workers undertaking public-facing roles and is clear that we must adopt a zero-tolerance approach to assault against those who serve the public. This is why in April 2024, the Government published ‘Fighting Retail Crime: more action’, within which the Government announced plans to introduce a new offence of assault against a shop worker, building on the operational policing commitments in the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan published in October 2023.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to enable litigants who win First Tier Tribunal cases to recover costs.
Answered by Mike Freer
The tribunals of the unified tribunal system are designed to be an informal, accessible and low cost means of resolving disputes, in which legal representation is not needed. For this reason, costs are not generally recoverable between the parties in proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal.
Procedure rules for some chambers of the First-tier Tribunal do provide for costs to be awarded in certain circumstances, for example where a party has conducted the litigation unreasonably.
We have no plans to change the rules so that costs can be awarded routinely in proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal.