Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) charged, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted for knowingly assisting asylum seekers to enter the UK under s25A Immigration Act 1971 in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for various offences by month at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool (latest data to December 2024), that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Data relating to charges is not held by the Ministry of Justice - this data is held and published by the Home Office.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) charged, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted for human trafficking under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for various offences by month at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool (latest data to December 2024), that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Data relating to charges is not held by the Ministry of Justice - this data is held and published by the Home Office.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Conservative - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) charged, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted for assisting unlawful immigration under s25 Immigration Act 1971 in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for various offences by month at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool (latest data to December 2024), that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Data relating to charges is not held by the Ministry of Justice - this data is held and published by the Home Office.
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 prosecutions relating to spiking have there been in each of the last five year.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not currently collate statistics which show the number of individuals who are charged and subsequently prosecuted and convicted of offences which relate to incidents of spiking. The Government is, however, considering options to improve the way spiking crimes are recorded and collated with the aim of capturing better data to help advise preventative strategies for spiking where needed.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted for carrying cannabis in England and Wales in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for possession of cannabis at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to speed up the sentencing of people found guilty of domestic violence.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, we are committed to strengthening the justice system’s response to domestic violence.
Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts where cases move more swiftly than the Crown Court. Despite this, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system, particularly in more serious cases that reach the Crown Court.
This Government inherited a justice system in crisis. That is why we have asked Sir Brian Leveson to lead an Independent Review of the Crown Courts, which will propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims of serious crimes, including victims of domestic abuse.
In parallel, we are actively exploring the merits of specialist domestic abuse court models as recommended in the Sentencing Review. In November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in pilot areas to improve victim safety, and we have committed to rolling out domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms to improve frontline responses.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions she has had with (a) judicial and (b) safeguarding bodies on improvements to child protection in private law family proceedings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Family Justice Board, which is co-chaired by ministers from the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education and is regularly attended by the President of the Family Division, the Chief Executives of Cafcass and Cafcass Cymru, the Chief Social Worker, and Ofsted, monitors performance across the family justice system and considers relevant strategic issues, including safeguarding of children in family proceedings. At the March meeting, the Board discussed findings from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report on intra-familial child sexual abuse.
The Board also plays a role in the delivery of key priorities aimed at improving outcomes for children and families such as the Pathfinder private law model, now operating in six court areas. Pathfinder was designed in collaboration with the judiciary and safeguarding partners and aims to improve the experience and outcomes for children and parents involved in private family law proceedings, including those who have experienced domestic abuse.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of safeguards in preventing harm to children during court-ordered contact arrangements.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice recognises the importance of safeguarding children during court-ordered contact arrangements.
The legislation which governs child arrangements cases makes a child’s welfare paramount and presumes a child’s welfare is furthered by the involvement of both parents, unless there is evidence of a risk of harm. Following the recommendation from the ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’ report, the Ministry of Justice has carried out a thorough review of the presumption of parental involvement, which will be published shortly.
Where an individual believes that a wrong decision or an unjust decision (due to serious procedural or other irregularity in the proceedings in the lower court) has been made by the courts, there are routes of appeal and individuals can apply to have a Child Arrangements Order varied or discharged.
In some cases, to ensure children’s safety, courts order contact at Child Contact Centres. These are primarily accredited centres run by the National Association of Child Contact Centres, which operate under rigorous safeguarding standards. These include secure premises with controlled access, trained staff present during supervised contact, and comprehensive risk assessments tailored to each family's circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government to ask how many people who are serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence in the community have had their licence automatically terminated in each month between March and June inclusive.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes official statistics on the number of individuals serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in the community, as part of the Offender Managements Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication. The latest OMSQ statistics were published on 24 April 2025 and showed the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, as at 31 December 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we cannot share figures on the number of individuals who had their licence automatically terminated between March and June 2025, as to do so, would provide an early indication of data on individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, which is not yet publicly available and is intended for future publication. The next release of OMSQ is scheduled for 31 July 2025, and will show the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community as at 31 March 2025.
The Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) applies to foreign national offenders (FNOs) serving an indeterminate sentence. There were four FNOs serving IPP sentences that were approved for removal for the under TERS in 2023 and one in 2024. It would fall to the Home Office to confirm whether all five have now been deported.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence were deported under the Tariff-Expired Removal Scheme in (1) 2023 and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes official statistics on the number of individuals serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in the community, as part of the Offender Managements Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ) publication. The latest OMSQ statistics were published on 24 April 2025 and showed the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, as at 31 December 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we cannot share figures on the number of individuals who had their licence automatically terminated between March and June 2025, as to do so, would provide an early indication of data on individuals serving IPP sentences in the community, which is not yet publicly available and is intended for future publication. The next release of OMSQ is scheduled for 31 July 2025, and will show the number of individuals serving IPP sentences in the community as at 31 March 2025.
The Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) applies to foreign national offenders (FNOs) serving an indeterminate sentence. There were four FNOs serving IPP sentences that were approved for removal for the under TERS in 2023 and one in 2024. It would fall to the Home Office to confirm whether all five have now been deported.