Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward proposals for a national safeguarding framework for historic burial grounds linked to former (a) psychiatric and (b) Poor Law institutions.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the sensitivities surrounding burial grounds linked to former psychiatric institutions, including Horton Cemetery, and is committed to upholding the dignity of these sites and the memory of those interred within them.
The Law Commission is currently reviewing burial legislation, including the legal framework for the management of burial grounds, as part of its Burial, Cremation and New Funerary Methods project (Burial, cremation, and new funerary methods – Law Commission).
The project includes an assessment of the existing legal safeguards for burial and disinterment, the options for improved regulation and oversight of burial sites taking into account their nature and context, and potential reforms to ensure appropriate protection for private burial grounds.
The Government welcomes the Law Commission’s consideration of these issues and will respond in due course to its report, which is expected to be published in early 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Chakrabarti (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals are currently remanded in custody for their own protection or welfare under the Bail Act 1976; how many individuals have been remanded in custody for their own protection or welfare in the past year; and what source they use for that data.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There is no centrally collated statistical data available on the number of individuals currently remanded in custody for their own protection or welfare under the Bail Act 1976, or how many individuals have been remanded in custody for their own protection or welfare in the past year. To obtain this information would exceed permitted costs.
The court’s decision to remand an individual in custody for their own protection or welfare is used as a last resort and out of concern for the defendant, where circumstances are such that a defendant would come to harm if released into the community and there is no other suitable option available to the courts.
The Mental Health Bill was introduced to Parliament in November 2024 and has now completed Third Reading in the House of Commons. It includes a reform to end the use of remand for own protection under the Bail Act where the court’s sole concern is the defendant’s mental health. To support implementation of the reform, we are working with partners to collect data on cases where concerns around mental health are the only reason this power is used.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice annual report and accounts include information on the average number of working lost across the Department including its executive agencies. The report is available here with the relevant information on page 141 - Ministry of Justice annual report and accounts: 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.
The Ministry of Justice does not issue performance warnings to employees whose sickness absence exceeds departmental trigger points. Under the supporting attendance policy, sickness absence is managed through a separate attendance management process.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent on legal aid for asylum seekers in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Expenditure data for asylum seekers across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally. An individual’s asylum status is not relevant to eligibility for legal aid services and is not specifically tracked or recorded.
The Legal Aid Agency does publish expenditure incurred under all categories of legal aid, including immigration and asylum, as part of its official statistics.
Legal aid is available for asylum cases under paragraph 30 of Schedule 1, Part 1 Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). This is subject to both a legal merits test and a financial eligibility test.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that victims of domestic abuse are not required to bear additional financial or procedural burdens in order to progress divorce proceedings when the other party fails to engage.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is a matter of concern that perpetrators of domestic abuse may fail to engage with divorce proceedings. The courts have powers to deal with parties who fail to engage, including to make orders confirming a perpetrator has received a divorce application when they have refused to acknowledge it. In September this year, the process of asking the court to make orders about sending applications became easier, when His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service extended the online application system for litigants-in-person.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve timescales for cases in the Court of Protection.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS is working to increase overall system capacity to reduce processing times. Measures taken include a targeted action plan to allocate additional administrative resources in response to higher demand, as well as training and upskilling new staff. Additional judicial sitting days have been added to support performance improvement. HMCTS is also working on improvements to the new case management system, to help reduce overall end-to-end processing times.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to improve the timeliness of probate claims.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service have invested in more staff, alongside system and process improvements to reduce and maintain lower processing times during the last year.
The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness in our regular quarterly family court statistics bulletin: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has (a) renewed and (b) upgraded digital services and software licensing contracts with Microsoft in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice has not renewed or upgraded digital services and software licensing contracts with Microsoft in the preceding 12 months from 16 December 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners who were held beyond their lawful release dates but did not submit claims for compensation.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Release inaccuracy is yet another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those errors that do occur, and this includes unlawful detentions.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps which includes an independent inquiry which will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies. The Government is determined to fix release inaccuracies and ensure the public is properly protected.
The data requested comes from internal management information and is not centrally collected. It is not quality assured and does not meet the standard required for publication.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average sum of compensation paid per day is to prisoners who have been held in custody beyond their lawful release dates.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Release inaccuracy is yet another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those errors that do occur, and this includes unlawful detentions.
On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps which includes an independent inquiry which will report its recommendations to prevent further inaccuracies. The Government is determined to fix release inaccuracies and ensure the public is properly protected.
The data requested comes from internal management information and is not centrally collected. It is not quality assured and does not meet the standard required for publication.