Oral Answers to Questions

Uma Kumaran Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jake Richards]

I speak regularly with my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Linsey Farnsworth), who was an experienced Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor. When I speak to her, she tells me that the worst scenario for prosecutors who are trying to keep our streets safe is prisons being full, so that offenders cannot be kept behind bars. That was the situation in this country under the last Government, and we are fixing their mess.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Lammy)]

I pay tribute to Lenny Scott, who was a dedicated prison officer and much-loved family man. In 2020, he seized an illicit mobile phone from a prisoner, who took revenge four years later by taking his life in broad daylight. Perpetrators of heinous killings like that must feel the full force of the law. I can announce today that we will broaden the starting point for whole-life orders to include murders connected to the current or former duties of a police, prison or probation officer. That means that offenders can expect to spend the rest of their life behind bars. That is the latest step that this Government have taken to keep our hard-working prison and probation staff safe.

[Uma Kumaran]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that clarification. By the time my constituent gets her day in court, she will have waited nearly a decade for justice. That is the cost of the Tories’ broken court system—unacceptable waits, contributing to a tragically high number of victims not proceeding to trial. The result is near-total impunity for the men who commit serious offences of sexual assault and domestic abuse. My right hon. Friend is working tirelessly to reduce the courts backlog. What is he doing to ensure that victims are put first, so that they do not have to face waiting a decade for justice?