Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure that private prosecutions do not contribute to existing court backlogs.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Private prosecutions are brought before the same courts in England and Wales as prosecutions commenced by criminal justice agencies. The prioritisation of cases in the criminal court caseload is a matter for the independent judiciary. The Ministry of Justice published a consultation “on the oversight and regulation of private prosecutors in the criminal justice system”, between 6 March and 8 May 2025 and will set out next steps shortly.
The Ministry of Justice holds management information on private prosecutions brought before the magistrates’ courts and this is shown in the table below. The definition of private prosecutions is detailed in the Department’s consultation referenced above.
Table One: Defendants dealt with in private prosecutions at the magistrates’ courts in England and Wales, annually 2014 – 2024
Year | Quarter | Defendants dealt with in private prosecutions | Proportion of total defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts |
2015 | All | 397,932 | 26% |
2016 | All | 400,647 | 27% |
2017 | All | 384,037 | 27% |
2018 | All | 401,767 | 29% |
2019 | All | 408,611 | 29% |
2020 | All | 180,057 | 18% |
2021 | All | 167,312 | 15% |
2022 | All | 235,042 | 19% |
2023 | All | 326,399 | 26% |
2024 | All | 352,276 | 27% |
Information on private prosecutions at the Crown Court cannot be produced robustly within costs.
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Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many private prosecutions were brought before magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Private prosecutions are brought before the same courts in England and Wales as prosecutions commenced by criminal justice agencies. The prioritisation of cases in the criminal court caseload is a matter for the independent judiciary. The Ministry of Justice published a consultation “on the oversight and regulation of private prosecutors in the criminal justice system”, between 6 March and 8 May 2025 and will set out next steps shortly.
The Ministry of Justice holds management information on private prosecutions brought before the magistrates’ courts and this is shown in the table below. The definition of private prosecutions is detailed in the Department’s consultation referenced above.
Table One: Defendants dealt with in private prosecutions at the magistrates’ courts in England and Wales, annually 2014 – 2024
Year | Quarter | Defendants dealt with in private prosecutions | Proportion of total defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts |
2015 | All | 397,932 | 26% |
2016 | All | 400,647 | 27% |
2017 | All | 384,037 | 27% |
2018 | All | 401,767 | 29% |
2019 | All | 408,611 | 29% |
2020 | All | 180,057 | 18% |
2021 | All | 167,312 | 15% |
2022 | All | 235,042 | 19% |
2023 | All | 326,399 | 26% |
2024 | All | 352,276 | 27% |
Information on private prosecutions at the Crown Court cannot be produced robustly within costs.
Notes |
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Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his department is taking to reduce delays in listing Crown Court cases involving serious domestic violence.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to improving victims’ experience of the justice system. We have funded a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown Court sitting days to tackle the outstanding caseload, but we need to go further.
This is why we commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for all victims, including for victims of domestic abuse, in his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. The Government will respond to Part 1 of the report in due course. Work on Part 2 of the report, which is looking at how the criminal courts can operate as efficiently as possible, is also underway.
We know how important support services are in keeping victims engaged through the criminal justice process. The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse services. To ensure these services can continue to be delivered, we have protected dedicated violence against women and girls' victims spending in the Department by maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced domestic abuse support this year.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many whistleblowing reports relating to HM Courts & Tribunals Service's digital systems have been received in each of the past five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There have been two whistleblowing reports over the last five years (reported 2024-25) that relate to HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s digital systems.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is vital that information about an offender’s release is available to victims who need it most. Victims who are eligible for, and who have opted into, the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme will be informed about any changes to an offender’s release date where it is appropriate to do so. Responsibility for informing victims about release through each of these schemes sits with HMPPS Victim Liaison Officers.
We have committed to improve the support and information for victims, which is why, through the Victim and Courts Bill, we are establishing a new route for all other victims to request information about an offender’s release, which will be delivered through a new, dedicated Helpline. This will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.
With regards to how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance has been issued to police forces on informing victims about the early release of offenders.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is vital that information about an offender’s release is available to victims who need it most. Victims who are eligible for, and who have opted into, the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme will be informed about any changes to an offender’s release date where it is appropriate to do so. Responsibility for informing victims about release through each of these schemes sits with HMPPS Victim Liaison Officers.
We have committed to improve the support and information for victims, which is why, through the Victim and Courts Bill, we are establishing a new route for all other victims to request information about an offender’s release, which will be delivered through a new, dedicated Helpline. This will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.
With regards to how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Penybont (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what policies and protections are in place to enable prisoners to use the Welsh language at HMP Berwyn.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The new HMPPS Welsh Language Scheme (24-27), published this month, sets out how the English and Welsh languages will be treated equally when delivering services to the public. This includes upholding and reinforcing the rights of prisoners to use Welsh, for example, through recording of language preference on arrival, provision of relevant information in Welsh, and offering opportunities for prisoners to use Welsh socially.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that victims are informed when offenders are released early from custody.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is vital that information about an offender’s release is available to victims who need it most. Victims who are eligible for, and who have opted into, the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme will be informed about any changes to an offender’s release date where it is appropriate to do so. Responsibility for informing victims about release through each of these schemes sits with HMPPS Victim Liaison Officers.
We have committed to improve the support and information for victims, which is why, through the Victim and Courts Bill, we are establishing a new route for all other victims to request information about an offender’s release, which will be delivered through a new, dedicated Helpline. This will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.
With regards to how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a breakdown by prison establishment of the number of prisoners who have been erroneously released since 1 April 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.
While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.
We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again
Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab), and provide data up to March 2025.
The number of people who have been released in error since April 2025 cannot be provided because it would form a subset of releases in error data which underpins future versions of these Official Statistics.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving sentences for sexual offences have been erroneously released since 1 April 2025.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.
While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.
We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again
Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab), and provide data up to March 2025.
The number of people who have been released in error since April 2025 cannot be provided because it would form a subset of releases in error data which underpins future versions of these Official Statistics.