Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
I can confirm that the Ministry of Justice does not currently offer or promote credit union offerings through payroll deductions. However, the Department offers financial wellbeing support and advice through the employee benefits package.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has held with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the a) operation and b) alignment of Local Criminal Justice Boards within future policing structures.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the important role Local Criminal Justice Boards play as the forum where local criminal justice system partners collaborate, and the Ministry of Justice remain committed to supporting them. The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Home Office to ensure they collectively understand how local criminal justice governance, including the operation of Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs), will operate under any new policing model.
In tandem, the Government is considering the recommendations in Part II of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts relating to the operation and governance of LCJBs and will respond to them in the coming months.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of data collected on intestacy for the purposes of understanding regional differences in access to will-making and estate planning.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Will-making and estate planning services are largely offered by private providers and, in some instances, charities may offer similar free services.
The Government is not aware of any concerns regarding the availability of will-making and estate planning services. There are no plans to review the provision of these services.
The latest published government statistics on probate applications can be found here: Family Court Statistics Quarterly: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of (a) court buildings and (b) technology used in courts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Historical underfunding has resulted in challenges across the court estate, with an estimated £1.3 billion building maintenance backlog.
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 last year, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.
We are committed to enhancing the condition of our existing estate while also delivering new facilities. Examples include a purpose‑built modern court building under construction in the City of London, with further new facilities in Reading and Blackpool. A state-of-the-art Tribunals Centre in London, providing 30 hearings rooms, is scheduled to open in early March.
We also continue to invest in technology in courts as part of a providing a modern justice system. In 2025/26 HMCTS is investing over £20 million of capital funding in IT hardware to provide the courts with modern audio-visual capability - to improve digital evidence presentation and remote participation, replaced over a quarter of staff laptops and improved Wi-Fi coverage and capacity. In 2025, HMCTS replaced the contact centre solution used by the Courts and Tribunals Service Centres and modernised significant digital applications used in courts, moving old technology out of legacy data centres. As part of continual improvement, HMCTS is progressing with the adoption of Artificial Intelligence, to improve systems and services throughout the Justice system.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the publication of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Part 1 of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts was published on 9 July 2025, which contained a number of recommendations for structural reform of the criminal courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister set out the reforms Government intends to pursue, alongside investment and modernisation.
On 4 February 2026 Sir Brian Leveson published Part 2 of his report, where he makes 135 recommendations to improve efficiency and modernise the criminal courts. The report is thorough and I welcome his ambition to see real improvements in the system.
We will urgently consider the latest recommendations, alongside Sir Brian’s remaining recommendations from Part 1, and respond to them in the coming months.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to reform the family court system to ensure children's best interests are prioritised.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Children Act 1989 states that the welfare of the child is the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions in relation to a child's upbringing.
This Government is committed to reform of the family court to improve the experience and outcomes for children and families. Central to this is the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model, which amplifies the voice of the child through a Child Impact Report and ensures a higher proportion of children are directly engaged by social workers during proceedings. The model is supporting the court in making safe decisions which prioritise the best interests of the child, without delay.
The Pathfinder pilot was launched in Dorset and North Wales in February 2022 and is now operating across 10 court in England and Wales, which accounts for around a quarter of relevant private law proceedings. Plans for further expansion will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 on court workloads relating to possession proceedings; and whether administrative or time-limited possession processes have been considered where landlords have complied fully with regulatory requirements.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
My Department continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that the justice system is well prepared for the implementation of the Renters Right’s Act 2025, including the impact on the County Court. We will ensure that the County Court has the resources and capacity it need to handle the additional possession workload these reforms will generate. A core part of this work is the development of a brand new digital possession service.
In relation to administrative possession, the Government considers it important that a tenant has the opportunity to attend a possession hearing as this is vital for tenants’ access to justice, especially in the new tenancy system where landlords must always evidence that possession grounds have been met.
In relation to time limits, the Civil Procedure Rules have a target for all possession hearings to be listed within 8 weeks of issue. We believe this appropriate and balances the rights of the tenant and landlord.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of offences relating to human trafficking or sexual exploitation in each of the last three calendar years; and what the nationality of those people was at the time of conviction.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions, including details around ethnicity, for a wide range of offences, including offences related to human trafficking or sexual exploitation in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
Criminal Courts data concerning nationality is not collated by the Ministry of Justice. Data on nationality is not operationally required to progress a case and deliver a justice outcome.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether ethnicity data is collected centrally for individuals convicted of human trafficking or sexual exploitation offences.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions, including details around ethnicity, for a wide range of offences, including offences related to human trafficking or sexual exploitation in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK
Criminal Courts data concerning nationality is not collated by the Ministry of Justice. Data on nationality is not operationally required to progress a case and deliver a justice outcome.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals convicted of sexual offences have been sentenced to immediate custody during the current Parliament; and what percentage of all individuals convicted of sexual offences received an immediate custodial sentence during that same period.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions and sentences for a variety of offences, including sexual offences, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. The tool can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK. The data can be filtered by ‘month’ and ‘year’.