Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children who have an unmet SEND need in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The requested information is not held by the department.
The department publishes information on the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs as at January each year. The latest information available indicates that 19.5% of pupils have special educational needs (SEN) support or an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This publication, from January 2025, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2024-25.
It may also be useful to note that the Education Policy Institute has conducted research on a longitudinal dataset that gathers information on SEN support and EHC plan status for pupils who started school in 2008 and reached Year 11 in 2019. This research indicates that 37% of these pupils were recorded as having SEN support or an EHC plan at some point during this period. Their report is available at: https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SEND-Final-Report-version-FINAL-04.02.2024-2.pdf.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion in each month since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Deliberate fare dodging undermines our railway. It drains much needed revenue and undercuts the trust of passengers who play by the rules. It has no place on our railways. Although we do not hold data for the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion per month, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has estimated annual revenue lost to fraud and ticketless travel is at least £350-£400 million.
The Office for Rail and Road have carried out a review of train operator revenue protection practices which was published in June. It set out five recommendations which include introducing greater consistency and fairness in the use of prosecutions as well as greater coordination, oversight and transparency of revenue protection. The Department has accepted all five recommendations and will publish its formal response to this review in due course.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual collection rate is for child maintenance under (a) Collect and Pay and (b) Direct Pay.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department regularly publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2025. Table 4 and Table 5 of the accompanying National tables provide information on the amount of child maintenance that should have been paid through Direct Pay and Collect and Pay arrangements, as well as the amounts that remain unpaid under each method.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 4 August (HL9915), whether training provided by Durham Constabulary to Bahraini law-enforcement bodies is funded in whole or in part by the government of Bahrain or Bahraini public bodies; and which UK Government department authorises such arrangements.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not provide funding or direct governance of training provided to Bahrain.
Non-operational police assistance overseas (provided by England and Wales Police Forces) is authorised through S26 of the Police Act 1996 and the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance process.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of the People's Tribunal of Women of Afghanistan's judgement of 11 December 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 21 October in response to Question 81211.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of expanding magistrate court provision in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has already invested heavily in the criminal justice system – in record sitting days, court buildings and technology, and in legal professionals. We have secured record investment (up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period), and we are investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate, including magistrates’ courts across the South East. Discussions about the allocation for 2025-26 between the Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue and we will provide more detail in due course. Nevertheless, the Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise.
We are also accelerating our programme to recruit more new and diverse magistrates over the coming years and we continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers to ensure courts remain resilient.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many migrants who arrived illegally have been given legal aid funded from the public purse in the last five years; and what the cost is of that legal aid.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information is not centrally held. Where proceedings are before a court or tribunal in England or Wales, legal aid is available to individuals who qualify for services irrespective of their immigration status or method of entry into England and Wales. Method of entry to England or Wales is not relevant to eligibility for legal aid under the current rules.
Generally, applications for legal aid will be subject to an assessment of the merits of the case and the financial circumstances of the applicant.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) duration and (b) terms and conditions of contracts are for regional improvement for standards and excellence advisors.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Regional improvement for standards excellence (RISE) teams have already paired over 350 schools with RISE advisers and supporting organisations, including some of our strongest trusts with a record of turning around struggling schools, to share expertise and boost standards.
All current regional improvement for standards and excellence advisers’ contracts come to an end 30 April 2027. Advisers are employed via secondment agreement or via Public Sector Resourcing, using standard terms and conditions.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of increased trials without juries on the number of judicial review applications.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Following reforms to the criminal courts, judicial review of criminal court decisions will be available in the same circumstances as it is currently.
We might expect to see an increase in the number of applications, given we expect to see more cases retained in the magistrates’ courts; however, the permission stage of a judicial review will mean that only those with proper grounds for a judicial review will progress.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that available Crown Court courtrooms are utilised on every sitting day.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.
Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.
In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days - the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.
The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.
Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.