Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department receives from NHS providers on the mental health conditions of prisoners serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The NHS is responsible for delivering healthcare services, including mental health services, in prisons in England and Wales.
All prisoners, including those serving IPP sentences, have access to integrated mental health services. Healthcare provision is based on assessed clinical need and is not determined by sentence type. Consequently, routine data sets do not generally allow for identification of specific diagnoses across patient groups based on the prisoner’s sentence category. Any detailed or bespoke analysis of clinical conditions among cohorts defined by sentence type would, therefore, need to be led by DHSC and NHS England, who are responsible for the relevant data and its governance.
More broadly, the Government remains determined to support the rehabilitation of IPP prisoners, through the IPP Action Plan, which we published on 17 July 2025. The Plan puts an important emphasis on effective frontline delivery in our prisons and the Probation Service, to ensure that those serving IPP sentences have robust and effective sentence plans and that they are in the location most appropriate to their needs. It also includes a commitment to explore ways to better identify and support IPP prisoners with mental health needs, ensuring they can access appropriate treatment and interventions as part of their sentence progression.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the statutory bereavement award under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976; whether he plans to review the level of that award; and whether an assessment has been made of the potential impact of the current level on the ability of families to pursue (a) legal claims for alleged clinical negligence and (b) other legal claims.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Bereavement damages are a fixed payment in acknowledgment of grief and are in no way intended to reflect the value of the life lost in monetary terms. They are only one element of the damages that may be awarded in a particular case, which for example can also include damages for dependency.
The Government’s position remains that it believes the existing legal framework, involving a fixed level of award and clear eligibility criteria, represents a reasonable, proportionate and practical approach.
There are no plans to review the level of the award, and the Government does not believe the level of the award has any impact on the ability of individuals to bring negligence claims.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of criminal trials that proceed as scheduled.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government inherited a justice system in crisis - with a record and rising Crown Court caseload and victims facing intolerable delays for justice. That is why the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts and make recommendations for how to restore stability and confidence in the criminal courts.
Sir Brian’s report set out a blueprint for pragmatic structural reform in our criminal courts and made clear that it is only by pulling every lever we have – investment, efficiency and reform – that we can we turn the tide on the backlog and begin to swifter justice for all. The Courts and Tribunals Bill is the first step to putting the reform blueprint into law.
We are currently considering Sir Brian’s remaining recommendations and will publish our full response in the summer. In the meantime, the Deputy Prime Minister has also announced several initial measures we are taking forward to drive efficiency, including supporting the judiciary to undertake ‘blitz courts’ (where courts list similar cases together over a short period of time – concentrating court resources and the expertise required), rolling out case coordinators in every Crown Court centre and supporting the Lady Chief Justice to publish the first ever National Listing Framework and pilot an AI Listing Assistant.
Alongside structural reforms and inefficiencies, we are also delivering record financial investment. We have uncapped Crown Court sitting days for 2026/27, which means there is no longer a financial limit on the amount of work the Crown Court can undertake; and we have announced additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates and £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fee schemes.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many courtrooms in crown courts were not sitting on each day in the past month.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. The table below outlines the number of courtrooms in the Crown Court that were not sitting each day in April 2026. To contextualise these figures, in April 2026 the Crown Court sat a total of 9,019 days. This compares to 8,751 in April 2025, 9,571 in April 2024, 7,337 in April 2023, 7,041 in April 2022 and 7,487 in April 2021.
It would be extremely unusual to have 100% courtroom utilisation in any jurisdiction, not least because the system needs to flex at short notice to meet unexpected capacity loss, cope with surges in demand, or accommodate overrunning trials and to allow for additional public and press access.
There is also a difference between system capacity and physical capacity. Running courtrooms requires not just available rooms but also, for example (but not limited to), judicial time, court staff, and sufficient numbers of barristers and solicitors.
We have invested a record £2.78 billion in our courts and tribunals service in 2026/27, including uncapped sitting days in the Crown Court for 2026/27 so that it can run at maximum system capacity. We have also announced additional investment in the workforce and legal professionals, including an additional £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees, up to £34 million per year extra for criminal legal aid advocates, and match-funded criminal law pupillages to open a career at the Criminal Bar to more young people from across society.
This financial investment is just one element of our work to tackle the crisis in our criminal courts as it is only by pulling all levers at our disposal – financial investment, modernisation and pragmatic structural reform – that we can put the criminal courts onto a genuinely sustainable footing.
Dates | Available(2) courtrooms that did not sit | |
01/04/2026 | 86 | |
02/04/2026 | Easter holiday period | 103 |
07/04/2026 | 115 | |
08/04/2026 | 103 | |
09/04/2026 | 106 | |
10/04/2026 | 123 | |
13/04/2026 | 47 | |
14/04/2026 | 47 | |
15/04/2026 | 51 | |
16/04/2026 | 56 | |
17/04/2026 | 63 | |
20/04/2026 | 46 | |
21/04/2026 | 41 | |
22/04/2026 | 44 | |
23/04/2026 | 54 | |
24/04/2026 | 56 | |
27/04/2026 | 46 | |
28/04/2026 | 44 | |
29/04/2026 | 48 | |
30/04/2026 | 49 | |
Source System - HMCTS Management Information (Courtroom Planner)
1 - Data extracted from Courtroom Planner on 4 June 2026, for courtrooms allocated to the Crown Court.
2 - Data is based on individual courtrooms in the Crown Court estate. These are rooms whose primary use has been assigned to the Crown Court, not necessarily in a Crown Court venue and excludes rooms that were unavailable to sit for another reason.
3 - Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.
4 - Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.
5 - Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.
6 - Data has not been cross referenced with case files.
7 - Crown courts do not normally sit on bank holidays or weekends so these have been removed.
8 – Crown court sittings can be intentionally reduced over Christmas and Easter holiday periods, as reflected in the table.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, regarding the establishment of a Business and Property Division of the High Court, what consideration he has given to supporting the retention of the name Chancery Division.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A Written Ministerial Statement was submitted to Parliament on 2 June, announcing the creation of a Business and Property Division of the High Court. This initiative is being led by the judiciary. The name provides greater clarity to court users and strengthens the international profile of this globally significant hub for litigation.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many prisons in England have undertaken voluntary self-assessment against the Dying Well in Custody Charter since 2024, and (b) what plans are in place to ensure that the Charter is implemented consistently by all prisons and prison healthcare providers, as recommended by the Chief Medical Officer, and how implementation will be monitored.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
HM Prison & Probation Service, in partnership with the NHS, has revised the Dying Well in Custody Charter Self-Assessment Toolkit. This voluntary toolkit includes good practice examples and is designed to support local partnership activity.
Information on how many prisons have undertaken voluntary self-assessment using the toolkit is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice is developing an Older Prisoners Strategy which will include advice on arrangements for supporting elderly prisoners including end of life care.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 4 June 2026 to Question 4454, how many employees in HMPPS are under the Government's "Occupational Psychologist" profession, broken down into (a) forensic psychologists and (b) non-forensic psychologists.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
A range of psychology-related occupations are categorised under the “occupational psychologist” profession in official statistics. As of 8 June 2026, 496 registered psychologists were employed by HM Prison & Probation Service. 490 of these (99%) are forensic psychologists. The other groups in the occupational psychologist category are: trainee psychologists (all of whom are training to be forensic psychologists); groupworkers; treatment managers; and psychology administrators.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for sexual offences committed in nursery, pre-school or other early years settings, broken down by (i) sex of the offender, (ii) offence type and (iii) age of the victim in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is resolutely committed to delivering meaningful change for victims of child sexual abuse and will do everything in its power to prevent the horrors of these appalling crimes. Cases of such abuse committed in nurseries and early years settings are particularly shocking.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of offences, including sexual offences in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK. It is not possible to identify where sexual offences have been committed nor the exact age of the victim. This information may be held in court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, published in April 2025, sets out clearly the actions the Government is taking to respond to the final recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), alongside broader measures to address the evolving threat from child sexual abuse and exploitation.
For the Ministry of Justice, this includes:
Introducing a new mandatory reporting duty under the Crime and Policing Act 2026. This requires individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children in England to report sexual abuse and creates a new criminal offence of obstructing an individual from making a report under the duty.
Making it easier for victims to pursue justice by removing the three-year time limit for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to bring personal injury claims through the civil courts.
Providing funding for the Centre for Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse to develop a directory of child sexual abuse support services across England and Wales.
This sits alongside a broader programme of cross-government work on CSA, including the creation of a new Child Protection Authority to make the child protection system clearer and more joined up, and the rollout of the multi-agency Child House model across all NHS regions in England to provide survivors with specialist, trauma informed care.
More widely, the Ministry of Justice is investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date. This includes ringfenced funding for Police and Crime Commissioners for community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services, including Children’s Independent Sexual Violence Advisers.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to launch a consultation on cohabitation law reform.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government published its consultation, “A Fairer End to Relationships”, on Friday 5 June.
This consultation proposes some of the biggest reforms to family law in decades, bringing the law into the 21st century and increasing protection for millions.
The consultation seeks views on building a legal framework for cohabitants, one that reflects the realities of modern family life and safeguards the most vulnerable. Over 3.5 million couples live together without getting married or entering a civil partnership, a number that has more than doubled over the past three decades. Despite this, cohabiting couples and their children have very limited financial protection should a relationship end.
In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples as part of our wider ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. The consultation is the first step towards reform.
The consultation will remain open until 14 August 2026, and is available at: A fairer end to relationships - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has considered the potential merits of introducing a more accessible appeals mechanism for coroners’ rulings.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government believes that coroners’ decisions can be effectively and appropriately challenged by means of the existing mechanisms of judicial review or application for a first or fresh inquest under section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988.
As soon as Parliamentary time allows, we will bring forward amendments to section 13 to enable the High Court, in appropriate circumstances, to direct the Record of Inquest to be amended without the need 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.