Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders are being enforced overseas.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The UK fully supports the operation of international treaties for the reciprocal (cross border) enforcement of maintenance orders (REMO). Children have the right to care and support and parents have a responsibility to provide it, including when the paying parent and the child are living in different countries. The Government encourages suitable countries to become party to REMO treaties, in particular the 2007 Hague Convention on International Child Support and Family Maintenance.
While the enforcement of orders is a matter for the country of enforcement, the UK raises systemic issues on Hague Conventions at the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Officials regularly discuss individual cases and the country-to-country operation of REMO treaties bilaterally.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how working hours were spent by civil servants in the Ministry of Justice undertaking agreed staff network leadership roles or carrying out agreed activity requested by the Department in the past six months, and what is the average agreed allocation in hours per civil servant.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally. Under the Ministry of Justice Staff Groups and Networks Policy 2026, staff network leaders may agree a time allocation, which should not generally exceed 10% of contracted hours (pro-rated).
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to set out a policy on the suitability of accommodating biological males in the women’s prison estate.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The policy inherited by this Government is that no transgender woman charged with or convicted of a sexual or violent offence, or who retains birth genitalia, can be held in the general women’s estate, other than in exceptional circumstances and where granted an exemption by a minister. No such exemptions have been granted under this Government.
We are currently reviewing transgender prisoner allocation policy in light of the recently updated EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations, and will be able to say more on this shortly.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of foreign nationals that might be identified because of the potential publication of data on foreign national offending between 2018 and 2024; and what assessment they have made of the potential impact of that publication on any foreign nationals identified.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of appealing the Information Commissioner Officer’s decision to the First-tier Tribunal. It would be prejudicial to live proceedings to release any of the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the costs associated with complying with the ruling by the Office of the Information Commissioner instructing the Ministry of Justice to publish data on foreign nationals’ offending between 2018 and 2024.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of appealing the Information Commissioner Officer’s decision to the First-tier Tribunal. It would be prejudicial to live proceedings to release any of the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current estimate of legal costs associated with litigation by the Ministry of Justice against the Office of the Information Commissioner regarding the publication of data on offences committed by foreign nationals.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of appealing the Information Commissioner Officer’s decision to the First-tier Tribunal. It would be prejudicial to live proceedings to release any of the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government who will sit on the panel for the Independent Review of the Prison System.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Work is ongoing to establish a panel to support the Independent Review, in line with the appropriate appointment process. The panel will comprise individuals with the relevant expertise and experience to support the Review’s consideration of the matters set out in its Terms of Reference. Details of panel member appointments will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Banner (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the current timescales for private rental sector landlords to obtain and enforce possession orders where justified; and what steps they are making to speed up the process.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly Mortgage and landlord possession statistics - Mortgage and landlord possession statistics - GOV.UK - which details the number of claims and the average time (mean/median) from claim to possession.
In 2025, the median average wait between claim and repossession by County Court bailiffs was 27 weeks and approximately 31% of the claims submitted required enforcement by County Court bailiffs.
Most possession claims do not require bailiff enforcement, as tenants vacate the property at various stages of the process and only a minority lead on to bailiff enforcement.
The timeliness of the enforcement of an order, where this is required, can be influenced by the actions of users and court. HMCTS is taking forward work to explore further improvements to bailiff recruitment and retention practices and to reduce administrative tasks for bailiffs to improve communications and efficiency.
Asked by: Lord Garnier (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill on the functions of the intelligence and 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: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the legal statement on liability for AI harms by the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce made in July, what assessment they have made of expectations that legal professionals use artificial intelligence as part of competent legal practice.
Answered by Lord Lemos - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government welcomes the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce's Legal Statement on Liability for AI Harms, which provides helpful analysis of how existing principles of English law may apply to liability arising from the use of AI.
Decisions about the professional standards expected of legal practitioners, including the competent use of AI and other technologies, are matters for the independent legal services regulators. In 2024, the Legal Services Board issued statutory guidance encouraging regulators to support the responsible adoption of technology by improving access to legal services, balancing the benefits and risks of innovation and fostering a regulatory environment that provides greater clarity for technology providers and innovators.
Building on this, the Ministry of Justice has worked with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and the Information Commissioner's Office to establish the Advisory AI Growth Lab for legal services, launched in June 2026. The Growth Lab brings together Government and regulators to provide coordinated, non-binding advice on how existing regulatory frameworks apply to AI-enabled products and services, giving organisations greater confidence to innovate responsibly while ensuring legal professionals continue to meet their existing regulatory obligations.