Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court days were lost in 2025 due to non-delivery of remanded prisoners to court by courier firms by a) prison held in, b) contracted courier company, c) Crown Court and d) Magistrates court.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on the number of trials declared ineffective due to the non-production of defendants can be found here: Trial effectiveness at the Criminal Courts tool.
In the most recent reported quarter (July to September 2025), non-production of defendants accounted for 2% of ineffective trials in the Crown Court and 4% of ineffective trials in the magistrates’ court.
Securing data on the impact that non-production of defendants has had on sitting time would come at a disproportionate cost, due to the time required to process this information.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court days were lost in 2025 due to the unavailability of courtrooms as a result of building failures by a) crown court, b) magistrates court and c) family court.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of court days lost due to building failures in the last full financial year (2024/25) is as follows:
Crown Court – 258 days
Magistrates’ Court – 36 days
Family Court – 2 days
To put this into context, over the same period we sat over 107,000 days in the Crown Court.
A lost court day is defined as a planned sitting day consisting of two sessions (one morning, one afternoon session) that is cancelled, adjourned or unable to proceed due to unforeseen circumstances, structural issues or scheduling conflicts. The figures above reflect court days lost due to building failures only. Workforce shortages are also a major cause of lost time: in 2024, over 1,000 trials were cancelled owing to a lack of counsel, which is why we are investing further in legal aid and match funding pupillages for criminal barristers.
Thanks to the efforts of court staff and the judiciary, where a building failure occurs, losing court days can often be averted through our ability to move cases to another courtroom or nearby court building, or by using remote hearing arrangements.
It is vital that court infrastructure does not prevent hearings from taking place, that is why we announced a boost in court capital maintenance and project funding from £120 million in 2024/25, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the five biggest allocations of funding for nature from International climate finance were in each year between 2021-22 and 2025-26.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The five biggest allocations of funding for nature in each year between 2021-22 and 2024-25 are shown in the tables below, one for each financial year. 2025-26 figures are not yet available as accounts have not yet been finalised:
Programme Number | Programme title | Nature - FY21- 22 Spend |
ICF-0040-MFF (DESNZ) | Mobilising Finance for Forests | £51.1m |
ICF-0005-GCF (DESNZ) | Green Climate Fund (GCF) | £43.7m |
300856 (FCDO) | Green Climate Fund First Replenishment | £40.7m |
201724 (FCDO) | Forest Governance, Markets and Climate | £21.1m |
300057 (FCDO) | Global Environment Facility 7th replenishment | £15.0m |
Programme Number | Programme title | Nature - FY22-23 Spend |
300856 (FCDO) | Green Climate Fund First Replenishment | £109.6m |
ICF-0004-CIF (DESNZ) | New Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) BC - Nature Based Solutions | £65.0m |
301516 (FCDO) | UKSIP - The UK Sustainable Infrastructure Programme Latin America | £23.8m |
201724 (FCDO) | Forest Governance, Markets and Climate | £23.6m |
202745 (FCDO) | Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use | £21.5m |
Programme Number | Programme title | Nature - FY23-24 Spend |
300856 (FCDO) | Green Climate Fund First Replenishment | £163.6m |
ICF-0049-AF (DESNZ) | Amazon Fund (REDD+) | £54.6m |
301268 (FCDO) | Global Environment Facility 8th Replenishment | £53.8m |
ICF-0019-REM (DESNZ) | REDD Early Movers Programme (REM) | £30.0m |
ICF-0040-MFF (DESNZ) | Mobilising Finance for Forests | £27.5m |
Programme Number | Programme title | Nature - FY24-25 Spend |
ICF-0053-SCALE1 (DESNZ) | Scaling Climate Action by Lowering Emissions (SCALE) - Pillar One | £153.9m |
400173 (FCDO) | Green Climate Fund - 2nd replenishment | £90.8m |
300958 (FCDO) | IDA | £85.0m |
ICF-R&D (DESNZ) | BEIS Research & Development Climate Finance | £34.7m |
ICF-GCRF (DESNZ) | Ayrton Fund BEIS R&D: Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) | £32.4m |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department had made of the potential merits of including the metals recycling industry on the list of eligible sectors for the forthcoming British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recently closed a consultation on eligibility for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) where businesses were invited to share their views on the proposed methodology. Decisions on eligibility will now be taken to ensure the scheme is properly geared towards boosting growth in the economy; through attracting investment in Industrial Strategy frontier manufacturing sectors and foundational manufacturing industries that supply key inputs to the Industrial Strategy frontier sectors.
The Industrial Strategy frontier and foundational sectors were selected following the Government’s consultation of the Modern Industrial Strategy in the autumn of 2024.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates served in a) magistrate courts and b) family courts in each year between 2009 and 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Magistrates are the cornerstone of our long and established judicial System. The extraordinary voluntary commitment given by individuals across England and Wales, giving up their valuable free time to make a difference to our Justice system is incredible.
The earliest data we have is 2018, when we had a total of 14,008 magistrates. Currently, we have 14,466 magistrates sitting in crime and family.
Year | Total number of Magistrates - Adult | Total number of Magistrates - Family | Total number of Magistrates |
2018 | 13171 | 2880 | 14008 |
2019 | 12877 | 2752 | 13712 |
2020 | 12451 | 2881 | 13510 |
2021 | 11945 | 2839 | 13090 |
2022 | 11882 | 2926 | 13195 |
2023 | 11909 | 2967 | 13319 |
2024 | 12490 | 3489 | 14458 |
2025 | 12366 | 3554 | 14466 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time was between charge and trial in a) rape, b) murder and c) GBH cases in each year between 2009 and 2025 for each court in England.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data showing the time from charge to main hearing for defendants dealt with for the selected offences following the entry of a not guilty plea at the Crown Court from 2016 to 2024 can be found in the attached tables. Data is not available for years prior to 2016.
Data has been provided at the lowest geographical level of our published Accredited Official Statistics, Local Criminal Justice Board Level (LCJB).
Please note that many of the averages are based on very small volumes of defendants and as such the figures should be treated with caution.
Our published timeliness metrics are produced at a sufficiently 'high' level to reduce the volatility and fluctuations associated with low volumes of cases i.e. offence groups. Where court level offence breakdowns are based on fewer than five cases in these tables, timeliness values are suppressed as they are particularly volatile and can be misleading.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the Future Homes Standard.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government understands the urgency of introducing new energy efficiency standards so that as many homes as possible are highly efficient and use low-carbon heating. We are carefully considering at what level to set the technical requirements of the Future Homes Standard to deliver an ambitious standard that is on track to achieve our net zero ambitions while also being achievable across the country. The Future Homes Standard will be published in early 2026.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to launch the Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme; and whether that programme will include the expansion of Housing First.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We will launch our £15 million Long-Term Rough Sleeping Innovation Programme shortly. The funding will enable councils to trial and deliver new approaches to support people furthest away from resolving their rough sleeping.
The government will provide £3.5 billion funding for homelessness services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, of which over £3 billion will be allocated to local government through the Local Government Finance Settlement. Councils can use this funding flexibly to meet the needs of people in their areas, including by commissioning Housing First services which evidence has shown can transform the lives of people with complex needs.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the British Metals Recycling Association’s report entitled Assessing the impact of potential restrictions on UK recycled metals exports, published in August 2025.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government acknowledges the UK steel sector's growing need for high-quality scrap supply. We are committed to collaborating with the supply chain to foster sector growth whilst maintaining a fair market for all stakeholders. The British Metals Recycling Association’s August 2025 report provides valuable insights, which we are considering as we progress policy options in this area. We continue to engage with all relevant parties to ensure our approach supports both industry growth and the wider UK economy.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of non-compostable fresh produce stickers on the bio-waste industry and soil health; and whether she plans to take steps to discourage the usage of non-compostable stickers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has not considered the potential impact of non-compostable fresh produce stickers on the bio-waste industry and soil health and does not currently have plans to discourage or ban the use of these stickers.
However, we remain committed to supporting sustainable packaging solutions and continue to monitor developments in this area.