Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2020 to Question 78583 on Emergency Services: Crimes of Violence, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Shipley to supply that information.

Obtaining the necessary information to fully answer the question asked on 22 July 2020, involves accessing the Police National Computer (PNC). This system can only be accessed via a fixed location in our offices. Access to the PNC has been severely restricted since March 2020 due to the national restrictions and the need to minimise non-essential travel.

Work to clear the backlog of parliamentary questions, alongside data uploads and other priority work using the PNC, has commenced but there is continued reduced capacity to do this due to the need to adhere to social distancing guidelines. I will write to the Hon Member with the requested information as soon as possible.