Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what determination he intends to make in response to the Schedule 3 paragraph 15 referrals he has received from coroners; and what his planned timetable is for making a determination.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Where referrals for a determination under Schedule 3, paragraph 15 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 are received, they will be responded to on an individual basis as soon as practicable.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a date as to when his Department will respond to the consultation into regulation and oversight of private prosecutions in the Criminal Justice System which closed in May 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Private prosecutions brought by individuals or companies play an important role in the justice system. However, in recent years, some private prosecutors have been found to have acted unlawfully, improperly and well below the standards the public expects, and concerns have also been raised about the operation of safeguards within the Single Justice Procedure.
This is why the Ministry of Justice consulted on “Regulation and oversight of private prosecutions and strengthening safeguards in the Single Justice Procedure”, which closed in May 2025. The consultation generated a significant number of detailed responses, reflecting the complexity of the issues involved. The Government is considering these carefully alongside related policy and delivery issues to ensure that the response is fully informed. The Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the average time taken to complete HM Prisons and Probation Service staff security vetting for each quarter of the last 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Within HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS), security vetting is carried out to ensure individuals who wish to take up employment within the organisation can uphold the security and integrity standards expected of their role and ensure prisons and probation remain safe for rehabilitation to take place.
In response to this question, information on the average time taken to complete staff security vetting is not held centrally in the format requested.
Responsibility for staff security vetting within HMPPS is split across different teams and service providers, and there is no single centrally held dataset capturing end‑to‑end average completion times by quarter. Without a centrally held dataset, we are unable to provide the average time taken to complete HMPPS security vetting in response to the question.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders had their country of birth recorded as i) UK, ii) any non-UK and iii) not known for offences of (a) violence against the person, (b) sexual offences, (c) robbery, (d) theft offences, (e) criminal damage and arson, (f) drug offences, (g) possession of weapons, (h) public order offences, (i) miscellaneous crimes against society, (j) fraud offences, (k) summary non-motoring, (l) summary motoring, (m) offence not recorded and n) all offences in each quarter since Q1 2017.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of hearings of appeals against conviction from the magistrates' court involve A) complainants in general and B) vulnerable complainants.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on appeals of magistrates’ court decisions heard at the Crown Court. This can be accessed through the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publications (Criminal court statistics quarterly: October to December 2025 - GOV.UK).
However, the Ministry of Justice does not hold data on the parties involved in appeal hearings or whether they involve vulnerable complainants.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a breakdown by individual country of birth and the number of offences of (a) violence against the person, (b) sexual offences, (c) robbery, (d) theft offences, (e) criminal damage and arson, (f) drug offences, (g) possession of weapons, (h) public order offences, (i) miscellaneous crimes against society, (j) fraud offences, (k) summary non-motoring, (l) summary motoring, (m) offence not recorded and n) all offences in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a breakdown by place of birth of those people convicted of an offence over the last year.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 May 2026 to Question 3026 on Men, if he will list the (a) topic, (b) location and (b) date of the public facing events.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Prime Minister committed to holding a National Summit on Men and Boys in 2026 to bring together key sector partners and Government, to raise awareness and develop plans to tackle issues facing Men and Boys. He asked the Deputy Prime Minister to lead this work.
By convening Departments and partners under the Deputy Prime Minister’s leadership, we can ensure a joined-up approach that delivers meaningful, measurable impact.
On Tuesday 9 June, the Deputy Prime Minister attended a panel event at LADbible. This forms part of his programme of regional engagement and will be an opportunity for him to listen to a large group of influential voices and content creators and continue to set out men and boys as an HMG priority and why it matters.
A wider series of public facing events is being planned over the coming months, including regional roundtables with the men and boys’ sector and advocates, and meetings with stakeholders to discuss topics such as media literacy and masculinity; social connection and loneliness, and fatherhood to inform the National Summit later in 2026. The exact dates, locations, and topics of these events have not yet been confirmed.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people who appeal against sentence and conviction from the magistrates court are unrepresented.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold, and does not have access to, centrally collated data identifying whether people who appeal against conviction or sentence from the magistrates’ courts are legally represented. As a result, we are unable to provide figures for the proportion of such appellants who are unrepresented. We are working towards a more robust evidence base so that we can track issues transparently and support future improvements.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of biological males in women’s prisons or prison places designated for women; and what steps if any they are taking to (1) prevent biological males from being placed in prison places designated for women, and (2) ensure biological males currently placed in such place are removed and placed in prison places designated for men.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We welcome the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice which has now been laid in Parliament. There will now be a 40-day period for Parliament to scrutinise and ratify this. We must let that process happen.
We are carefully considering the new Code and any implications for the prison estate, including the allocation of transgender prisoners, in which context Local and Complex Case Boards currently play an important role.
The vast majority of transgender women are held in men's prisons. Of the small number that are in women's prisons, the majority are held on E Wing, a separate unit co-located within HMP Downview that is not part of the general female estate.