Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will seek to ensure that the courts' administrations when a defendant has been given a custodial sentence do not send confidential information to an address where there is a risk it might be read by unauthorised persons such as a new tenant but instead to a person nominated by the prisoner such as next-of-kin or to the prisoner's legal representative.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) provides administrative support for a large number of courts in England and Wales. HMCTS sends information by post to the addresses given by the parties to court proceedings. If a party changes their address or commences a custodial sentence part way through court proceedings then they should notify the relevant court of this change and can request that information is sent to a relative or a legal representative. All courts have administrative procedures in place to process changes of address and will update their records accordingly.

HMCTS is reliant on the parties to proceedings providing valid and up to date addresses. It is not possible for HMCTS to check if an address given is correct or if any defendants in criminal proceedings have commenced a custodial sentence, due to the volume of cases handled by the criminal, civil and family courts.