Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support further progress of the Courts and Tribunals Bill through Parliament.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government understands the pressure that is currently on the court system. The Crown Court backlog currently stands at over 80,000 cases and over 22,000 of those cases have been open for over a year. Behind each of those cases is someone awaiting justice – defendants seeking to clear their name and victims putting their lives on hold. The Crown Court caseload means that thousands of victims and witnesses are waiting years for their day in court. This cannot be acceptable. The justice system exists to serve the public, and this Government is committed to building a stronger justice system in which the public can have confidence.
The Courts and Tribunals Bill is currently progressing through Parliament and will have report stage in the House of Commons when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to make further progress with the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government understands the pressure that is currently on the court system. The Crown Court backlog currently stands at over 80,000 cases and over 22,000 of those cases have been open for over a year. Behind each of those cases is someone awaiting justice – defendants seeking to clear their name and victims putting their lives on hold. The Crown Court caseload means that thousands of victims and witnesses are waiting years for their day in court. This cannot be acceptable. The justice system exists to serve the public, and this Government is committed to building a stronger justice system in which the public can have confidence.
The Courts and Tribunals Bill is currently progressing through Parliament and will have report stage in the House of Commons when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of community care lawyers in the light of the findings of the report by Dr Jo Wilding, Community Care Legal Aid in England and Wales: Urgent help needed, published in July.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government recognises the vital work of Community Care lawyers in supporting those who are vulnerable, and the importance legal aid can have in helping vulnerable people access justice.
The Government recognises the pressures facing civil legal aid and is investing in the sector. We have secured additional funding of over £200 million over the Spending Review period for legal aid transformation, recovery from the cyber-attack, and for moving our legacy systems to a modern and secure technology platform. The transformation programme aims to support sustainability for all providers – including those undertaking community care legal aid work – by ensuring new digital systems streamline processes and reduce administrative burdens.
In preparation for the 2028 Standard Civil Contract, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) will engage with stakeholders to gather views on how best to support the sustainability of the market. These insights will inform LAA’s approach and help shape future contracts that support providers in delivering high-quality legal aid services.
The Government is making significant investments in legal aid. We are delivering the first major fee uplifts for civil legal aid since 1996, increasing spend on immigration and housing work by £20 million per annum once fully implemented. Whilst these investments are not targeted at community care legal aid specifically, they are important steps towards improving services and sustainability across the civil legal aid system.
Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of specialist courts to fast-track rape cases.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We remain committed to fulfilling our manifesto commitment to introduce specialist rape courts. We are working with criminal justice partners and external stakeholders to develop plans for what form such courts should take. This includes a consideration of case timelines and progression, victim experience, the use of special measures and the effective operation of the courts.
The Government is already taking decisive action to revive our criminal court system and address long-standing issues that impact all victims, particularly those of rape and other serious sexual offences.
The uncapping of Crown Court sitting days in the 26/27 financial year means that more rape and other sexual offence cases can be heard more promptly. Judges will continue to prioritise cases involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, including rape and other sexual offences. Under the judiciary's new National Listing Framework published in July 2026, RASSO cases will be prioritised in listing and, crucially, the practice of floating these cases will end.
Lengthy delays can be particularly difficult for victims of rape and sexual violence and so we are taking forward a range of measures to improve the experience of these victims through the criminal justice system. This includes introducing independent legal advisors for adult rape victims, rolling out trauma-informed training to all court staff, and delivering legislative reforms to protect victims, particularly victims of sexual offences, from unnecessary and intrusive cross-examination about their personal lives at court.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the provisions in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill on the functions of the security services.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has worked closely with the UK Intelligence Community and with the Intelligence and Security Committee to assess the impact of any measures on the functions of the intelligence and security services.
The Bill includes measures designed to ensure that sensitive information is handled securely and can be protected from inappropriate disclosure. This includes information related to the functions of the intelligence and security services.
As for all public authorities, there will be some limited costs for the intelligence and security services in preparing for the application of the duty and in adapting existing practice to meet its requirements. The Bill’s impact assessment sets out that the extent of ‘new’ costs in the support of these investigative processes is likely to be low.
The Government will continue to review the impact assessment of the Bill as the Bill is amended.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the appropriateness of current sentences for sexual offences.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. They must sentence within the legislative framework set by Parliament, and in line with the relevant Sentencing Council guidelines, unless not in the interest of justice to do so.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 establishes a comprehensive framework of serious offences with robust maximum penalties. These penalties reflect the gravity with which such offending is treated.
The Government keeps criminal offences and the associated penalties under review to ensure that the legislative framework remains effective, proportionate and responsive to the seriousness of offending. The legislation has recently been further strengthened through the creation of specific sexual offences against children under 16, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the law provides the highest level of protection for children and reflects the seriousness of these crimes.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of custodial sentences under 12 months.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The evidence shows that those given a community order or suspended sentence reoffend less than similar offenders given a short prison sentence. Short prison sentences can exacerbate issues with employment, housing, and maintaining family ties, without allowing sufficient time to provide effective rehabilitative services.
In line with this evidence, and recommendations made by the Independent Sentencing Review, the Sentencing Act 2026 introduced a presumption for the courts to suspend sentences of immediate custody, of 12 months or less. The courts will always have the power to send offenders to prison where they have breached a court order, an individual is at significant risk of physical or psychological harm, or in exceptional circumstances.
Limiting the use of short sentences will help offenders to break the cycle of re-offending, reduce crime and lead to fewer victims and safer communities.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is a statutory obligation that applies across the public sector. As a procedural duty to have "due regard" to equality considerations, compliance is an on-going responsibility rather than a one-off task. It is integrated into the day-to-day development and delivery of all policies and services; as such, it is a core responsibility of all civil servants across government, rather than being restricted to dedicated personnel.
Because it is a continuous, procedural duty applicable to all civil servants, it is impossible to disaggregate the specific fraction of time or cost dedicated solely to Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) compliance versus general policy and operational work. Attempting to calculate an FTE or cost figure would incur disproportionate cost and still be highly inaccurate.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which influencers and content creators his Department has paid to support its campaigns.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice works with a range of influencers and content creators to help us reach audiences who are less likely to engage with traditional government channels. Wherever possible we do this on a low / no cost basis to secure maximum value to the taxpayer.
On occasion and in line with Government Communications Service best practice, we use paid influencers to help deliver campaigns covering key departmental priorities and operationally critical campaigns – for example in the recruitment of frontline staff. This can often provide a more effective and cost-efficient way of reaching audiences than traditional advertising.
The Department considers that disclosing the identities of individual influencers and content creators engaged to support campaigns would be likely to prejudice its commercial interests. The Department works with content creators on a campaign-by-campaign basis, with arrangements varying depending on campaign objectives, audience, content requirements and commercial terms. Disclosure of the identities of paid creators could undermine the Department's ability to negotiate favourable terms, including securing pro bono or reduced-cost support where appropriate, thereby reducing its ability to achieve value for money for the taxpayer in future campaigns.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for each Arm's Length Body (ALB) their Department sponsors, (a) how many people are employed in the following bands of total earnings, or nearest equivalent, (i) under £25,000, (ii) £ 25,001 to £ 35,000, (iii) £35,001 to £50,270, (iv) £50,271 to £100,00, (v) £100,001 to £ 125,140 and (vi) over £125,140, and (b) what estimate they have made of the total unfunded public sector pension liability.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.