Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, by how much they plan to reduce their Department's budget to help fund the digital ID scheme.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Digital Identity policy is in development, with a dedicated team inside the Cabinet Office working to develop the proposals.
Costs in this Spending Review period will be met within the existing Spending Review settlements.
We are inviting the public to have their say in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK. No final decisions will be made until after the consultation.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of UK accession to the Lugano Convention for businesses and legal professionals.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The UK applied to re-join the 2007 Lugano Convention in April 2020. This application remains pending as the European Commission stated in a Note Verbale in June 2021 that it was not in a position to consent to UK accession.
The UK Government remains committed to close and effective collaboration with EU and EFTA countries in the area of private international law. As evidence of this, the UK ratified the 2019 Hague Convention in 2024, to which the EU is also a Party. This now provides recognition and enforcement rules in civil and commercial matters between the UK and the EU and its Member States.
Hague 2019 rules provide greater certainty for businesses, reduce transactional and cross-border litigation costs, and support international trade and investments. Being part of this multilateral framework also encourages businesses to choose the UK’s world-beating courts and legal services for their international litigation, by providing greater predictability as to whether a UK judgment can be recognised and enforced abroad.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the workloads of prison officers in the North West.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Staffing models in public sector prisons and associated staffing numbers, are reviewed on a routine basis to take account of business changes that may impact on the workload of staff.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when will the strategic governance review of the Probationary Service be published.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government has committed to undertake a strategic review of the Probation Service in its manifesto. We remain committed to this and will review governance arrangements, looking at local partnerships across England and Wales.
This work will follow implementation of the Sentencing Bill reforms, which will significantly change how the Probation Service operates. Governance arrangements must be designed to enable and support the effective delivery of these reforms. Our priority is to ensure the Probation Service is on a stable footing and performance has improved before undertaking the review.
In the meantime, this Government will continue to strengthen joint working with local partners to reduce reoffending and better protect the public.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what percentage of women sentenced to custody in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025 received sentences of six months and fewer.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Latest Criminal Justice Statistics data published to the end of June 2025 shows that for female defendants aged 18 or over:
In 2023, 3,268 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 68% of all female custodial sentences.
In 2024, 4,078 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 71% of all female custodial sentences.
Between January and June 2025, 2,199 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 71% of all female custodial sentences during this period.
*Please note: The most recent published sentencing data is available up to June 2025.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of Crown Courts had specialist rape courts in place on 1 January 2026.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have a record and rising backlog, and as a result rape cases are waiting too long to be heard. We are therefore taking decisive action to address this backlog through bold court reforms, which we announced following Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. These reforms will speed up justice for all victims, including those of rape.
Alongside these reforms we are committed to improving the experience of attending court for victims of rape across all Crown Courts. We will be introducing a package of legislative measures to improve victims’ experience of giving evidence and to end reliance on so-called rape myths in the courtroom; we are rolling-out trauma-informed training for all HMCTS criminal court staff; and we have also committed to ensuring that the Operation Soteria model, which focuses investigations on the suspect and away from the victim, is continued in the courtroom post-charge.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of digitising possession cases on the speed at which legitimate possession cases are processed by the courts when the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins to be implemented
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The most recent published statistics show that claim to possession order median timeliness is currently 7.6 weeks, an improvement from the same period in 2024, and within the 8 weeks set out in the Civil Procedure Rules: (Mortgage and landlord possession statistics - GOV.UK). As the Renters’ Rights Act is implemented, HMCTS will put in place measures including additional sitting days and administrative resource to ensure sufficient capacity is in place for the county court to handle the anticipated change to the possession caseload.
The digital service will offer an online route for making and responding to possession claims, filing documents, and receiving updates and outcomes, offering an improved user experience through guided journeys. It will reduce the time taken to deal with printing, posting and administrative handling of paper forms.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of legal aid they envisage being made available for each individual bereaved person and family at inquests in England and Wales for (1) legal help, and (2) advocacy, under the provisions of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill will provide non-means tested legal aid to bereaved family members at any inquests where a public authority is named as an interested person.
Under the Bill, an “individual” is defined as being a member of another individual’s family if they are relatives (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership), they are cohabitants (as defined in Part 4 25 of the Family Law Act 1996), or one has parental responsibility for the other.
Legal aid consists of legal help and advocacy.
a. Legal help covers advice, assistance and preparation for an inquest but not advocacy at the hearing. Under the Bill’s expansion, multiple bereaved family members will be able to receive non-means tested legal help services where a public authority is named as an interested person.
b. Advocacy covers the instruction of an advocate (usually a barrister) to prepare for and attend the inquest hearing(s) to make submissions. The Bill limits advocacy funding to one member of each family – in practice, this level of service will be granted to the first family member to apply. We believe that one legally aided advocate should in most cases be sufficient to support each family through the inquest hearing and that it is reasonable to ask members of the same family to collaborate in the instruction of a single advocate.
Asked by: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 24 November 2025 (HL11755), what are the reasons for the delay in bringing the provisions of section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into effect; and what is the timeframe for bringing those provisions into effect.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As with many criminal law provisions, section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is brought into force by regulations made by the Secretary of State, to ensure sufficient time to take into account and manage impacts on the criminal justice system and operational preparedness.
We have now laid the regulations to bring section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 into force; they were signed by Minister Davies-Jones last week. The offences will come into force on 6 February (21 days after being signed) as is standard practice for new criminal offences.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Master of the Rolls about the impact of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 on the justice system.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the Government's relationship with the judiciary. As would be expected, he and other Departmental Ministers have regular engagement with the senior judiciary, including the Master of the Rolls, on a whole host of matters including legislation that affects the justice system.
It is standard practice not to comment on the specifics of discussions between Ministers and the judiciary. In line with constitutional conventions, discussions with the judiciary do not cover the merits of policy proposals and are limited to technical matters relating to the operation of the courts and the wider administration of justice.