Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help support female victims within the courts system.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with victims waiting years for justice. On 25 February 2026, the Deputy Prime Minister announced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, aiming to deliver faster, fairer justice for victims. These reforms are designed to progress cases more quickly through the criminal courts, reduce uncertainty, and increase transparency for victims and witnesses by ensuring more effective triage across the system. We will also implement crucial reforms, recommended by the Law Commission, to ensure that victims are no longer unfairly undermined by evidence in the court room.
This Government is committed to ensuring female victims have the information and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system. We have recently launched a consultation on a new Victims’ Code to ensure we get the foundations for victims right. The Victims and Courts Bill will additionally provide a new route for victims to request information via a dedicated helpline, which will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.
We have made the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support services over the next three years. The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice’s victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need as well as funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. Local assessments will incorporate considerations of the volume and needs of female victims of crime.
In addition, we continue to fund the long-standing Witness Service. This provides on-the-day emotional and practical support to witnesses (including those who are victims) to help them give their best evidence. This may include providing information about the court and its processes, facilitating explanations around any delays and accompanying the witness (if allowed by the court) into the court room when they give evidence.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 116 of the Report published by the Justice Committee entitled The Coroner Service, HC 68, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delaying legislative steps to ensure that Records of Inquest can be amended without the need for a fresh inquest on access to justice for (a) victims and their (b) families.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government intends to bring forward the necessary amendments to section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988 as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Whilst we have not undertaken a formal impact assessment on timings, there remains a well-established process for applications to be made under section 13, which is available in relevant circumstances. The proposed change builds on that existing framework by enabling the High Court, in appropriate cases, to resolve issues rather than directing that a matter be remitted to a coroner for a fresh inquest. This will provide the court with greater flexibility to ensure that it can fulfil its role as expediently as possible and in a way that best serves the interests of justice.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 116 of the report by the Justice Committee entitled The Coroner Service, published on 27 May 2021, HC 68, when he plans to take legislative steps to introduce this measure.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government intends to bring forward the necessary amendments to section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988 as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Whilst we have not undertaken a formal impact assessment on timings, there remains a well-established process for applications to be made under section 13, which is available in relevant circumstances. The proposed change builds on that existing framework by enabling the High Court, in appropriate cases, to resolve issues rather than directing that a matter be remitted to a coroner for a fresh inquest. This will provide the court with greater flexibility to ensure that it can fulfil its role as expediently as possible and in a way that best serves the interests of justice.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what evaluation criteria he is using to assess the impact of the Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot on people against whom orders are sought.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Domestic Abuse Protection Order Notices and Orders (DAPNs and DAPOs) have been piloted in selected areas since November 2024, and are being fully evaluated, which will help to inform implementation as the orders are rolled out across England and Wales.
Reoffending and revictimisation are the key criteria for the impact evaluation, which will aim to quantitatively assess whether, and how, the new orders reduce these outcomes. A complementary process evaluation will aim to examine the implementation of DAPNs and DAPOs and explore perceptions of their effectiveness across different stakeholder groups.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to recruit more specialist examiners in HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff in 2026, alongside system process improvements and a programme of upskilling new and existing staff to conduct more specialist examiner work. This will improve the timeliness for applications that require referral to a more experienced probate case worker.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of processing times for paper probate application; and what steps he is taking to help improve the processing time for paper applications inline with wait times for digitally submitted applications.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Processing times for paper applications have improved significantly, but we recognise that they need to improve further. Paper applications are often more complex and may require additional enquiries where they cannot be issued on the first examination, which can affect overall timeliness. HM Courts & Tribunals Service has therefore invested in more staff in 2026, alongside system process improvements and a programme of upskilling to improve the processing time for paper applications.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve HM Courts and Tribunal Service response times in cases which require referral for expert probate examination.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff in 2026, alongside system process improvements and a programme of upskilling new and existing staff to conduct more specialist examiner work. This will improve the timeliness for applications that require referral to a more experienced probate case worker.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data protection safeguards are in place in relation to court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, being provided to individuals and organisations by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.
Standard Lists produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court and these lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.
Standard lists do contain Special Category Data as defined by Data Protection Act 2018. This information is intended to assist the accurate reporting of court proceedings and should be handled appropriately by legal professionals and members of the media.
HMCTS will immediately cease the sharing of this data, if there is concern about how it will be used. Such data is held subject to licencing and can only be shared in agreement with licencing agreements; abiding by those licencing agreements is part of data protection.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to provide a list of organisations and individuals that are provided court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.
Standard lists of hearings produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court. These lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.
The names of individuals and organisations provided with court lists, containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals is not collated or stored centrally.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the decision to require the deletion of the Courtsdesk archive on the principle of open justice and transparency in the justice system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There has been no deletion of the Courtsdesk “archive”. Under the terms of the agreement between HMCTS and Courtsdesk, Courtsdesk agreed that it would not hold any court data provided to it for more than 6 months. It acted outside the terms of that agreement. The nature of the “archive” it created does not relate to court records, as has been misreported. Courtsdesk has, essentially, created a historic database of court listing information. In any event, we are taking steps, in discussion with Courtsdesk, to resolve issues where possible whilst protect personal data. I met recently with the CEO of Courtsdesk.
Court records have always been, and will remain, available through formal request to the relevant court.