Written questions by Maguire.

What recent steps he has taken towards beginning the process of ratifying the Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer, including any regulatory blocks that have led to the current delay; and what his planned timetable is for ratification.

The UK was proud to be among the first signatories to the Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer in May 2025, demonstrating our strong and longstanding commitment to the rule of law, the independence of the legal profession, and access to justice.My Department is considering our next steps to prepare for ratification. This includes ongoing work across Government to assess the steps required to ensure compliance with the Convention’s provisions, including its application across the UK’s jurisdictions as well as any potential extension to the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, in line with usual treaty practice.

How many cases were waiting to be heard in Crown Courts in each circuit in England and Wales on 11 November 2025.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:London: December 2029Midlands: August 2028North East: August 2028North West: August 2028South East: April 2029South West: May 2028Wales: February 2027To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.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.HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.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.

How far in advance Crown Court trial dates are being set for each of the six circuits in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:London: December 2029Midlands: August 2028North East: August 2028North West: August 2028South East: April 2029South West: May 2028Wales: February 2027To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.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.HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.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.

How many Crown Courts in each of the six circuits in England and Wales are not used for five days per week.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:London: December 2029Midlands: August 2028North East: August 2028North West: August 2028South East: April 2029South West: May 2028Wales: February 2027To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.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.HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.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.

How many trials have been delayed and court days lost because a prisoner has failed to be delivered to the Court by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services.

The question has been interpreted to mean ineffective trials that do not start on their intended start date and need rescheduling. Trials can become ineffective for many reasons, owing to the action or inaction of stakeholders responsible for producing prisoners to court, or of the courts themselves. Delays or failures to bring prisoners to court are one such reason.Data on trial effectiveness at the criminal courts, by reason for ineffectiveness, is published as part of the Criminal court statistics quarterly series. Applying the “reason” filter in the pivot table in Trial Effectiveness at Criminal Courts document enables the reader to select reasons why trials have been ineffective. Tab 14 shows instances where the defendant’s not having been produced by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services led to an ineffective trial. This includes all instances where a prisoner was not produced on time, regardless of whether the contractor was at fault. The most recent publication can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2025.

How many prisoners have been wrongly released from HM Prisons since July 2024 were still at large on 1 November 2025.

As the Deputy Prime Minister set out in his statement on 11 November, on that day we were aware of three releases in error from prison where the offenders were at large. We were also investigating a further case of a potential release in error on 3 November of a person who may have still been at large.Lord Timpson in his statement on 13 November confirmed that the potential case was indeed a release in error and the individual was swiftly returned to policy custody on the same day and returned to prison the following morning and that one of the three releases in error has now been classified as a lawful release.These are operational matters; the position changes quickly. We will not offer further running commentary on Releases in Error; further breakdowns will be published in the normal way through our regular statistics and Dame Lynne Owens will be looking at data and transparency as part of her independent investigation.

How many prisoners have been wrongly released from prison since July 2024.

Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are 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 releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again.Totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK, and provide data up to March 2025.The number of people who have been released in error since April 2025 cannot be provided because it would form a subset of releases in error data which underpins future versions of these Official Statistics.

Whether his Department plans to legislate to protect the rights of children to communicate with (a) grandparents and (b) others members of extended family in cases where (i) one and (ii) both parents seek to prevent such contact.

I acknowledge and respect that grandparents and other extended family members often play an important role in children’s lives and can provide stability in families, particularly where parents are separating.Any contact with the child should always be in their child's best interests. This is why there is no statutory right for any adult to have contact with a child. It is already possible for extended family members to seek leave of the court to apply for ‘spending time with’ or ‘living with’ arrangements through a Child Arrangements Order under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989 (‘the Act’). The requirement for grandparents or others to seek the leave of the court first is to ensure that their application is in the child's best interests; but in certain circumstances, applicants may be entitled to apply without the leave of the court under section 10 (5) of the Act. These circumstances include where the child has lived with them for a period of at least three years. Therefore, the Government has no current plans to legislate further on this issue.

Whether contracts agreed with the Prison Education Service will include provision for inflationary increases to budgets for each prison in each year.

The overall budget for the Prisoner Education Service is subject to the Ministry of Justice’s internal annual budget allocations process to set internal budgets following the Spending Review period, so it is not possible to comment on budgets at prison level for future years at present.The indexation provisions in the circa. 70 service contracts within the Prisoner Education Service vary between the services to ensure they are proportionate and relevant to the services being delivered. The most significant contracts by value Core Education and Careers Information, Advice & Guidance currently include provision for an annual indexation of contract prices. The two indices that are used to calculate inflationary increases are as follows:1) Average Weekly Earnings index for staff costs, and2) Consumer Price Index for all non-staff costs.

Whether the Prison Education Service contracts have been agreed; for what reason there was a delay in signing the contracts; and what her planned timetable is for signing the contracts.

The Prisoner Education Service comprises of six different nationally contracted services, including Core Education and Careers Information and Guidance as the two most significant ones by total contract value. To provide some context, there are circa 70 contracts within the Prisoner Education Services at various stages of being launched.To date, the 11 new national Careers Information, Advice and Guidance contracts were successfully launched on 1 April 2025. Additionally, new services, enabling distance learning for Further and Higher Education and prison library services, delivered by Local Authorities and Social Enterprises, also commenced on 1 April 2025.Moreover, contracts have been formally executed for the new digital, web-based screening and assessment tools and for Common Awarding Organisations. Both services shall commence on 1 October 2025.The successful suppliers for Core Education contract will be announced in due course and all details associated with these contracts remain ‘In Commercial Confidence’ until further notice. The Ministry of Justice is satisfied with the timely progress made to date on the Prisoner Education Service as a whole.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an independent statutory regulator for High Court enforcement officers.

Whilst most High Court enforcement agencies have already signed up to the Enforcement Conduct Board’s independent voluntary accreditation scheme, the Government believes that it is necessary to take action so that all High Court Enforcement Officers, enforcement agents and agencies are regulated to the same standards and overseen by the same body when using the Taking Control of Goods procedure to enforce debts. A public consultation was launched on 9 June 2025 to explore how best to achieve this. Responses to the consultation will inform legislation to be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.

What recent estimate she has made of the number of County Court Judgments entered by default as a result of claimants using incorrect addresses for service of court documents.

The information requested is not held centrally.

What steps her Department is taking to inform applicants for Legal Aid that their personal data was compromised in the cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency on 23 April 2025.

To ensure the best chance of reaching as many potentially impacted individuals as possible the Ministry of Justice published a notice as swiftly as possible at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UKThe statement provides information about the cyber attack and directs concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contains information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach.The cyber-attack is subject to an ongoing investigation, and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. Appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate the impact of the attack, including taking digital services offline. Contingency measures have been put in place to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time. This is an evolving situation, and we continue to update legal providers and users as it develops. To ensure that legal aid providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, and that affected parties can access the latest developments on the incident, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has created a dedicated space with contingencies and useful resources on GOV.UK.This data breach is the result of heinous criminal activity but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last Conservative Government. Upon taking office, I was shocked to see how fragile our legal aid systems were. They knew about the vulnerabilities of the Legal Aid Agency digital systems, but did not act. By contrast, since taking office, this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber attacks in future.

What steps she is taking to monitor the impact of the cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency on legal aid applicants; and steps he is taking to compensate any lost incurred by legal aid applicants following the cyber attack.

To ensure the best chance of reaching as many potentially impacted individuals as possible the Ministry of Justice published a notice as swiftly as possible at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UKThe statement provides information about the cyber attack and directs concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contains information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach.The cyber-attack is subject to an ongoing investigation, and we are working closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre. Appropriate actions have been taken to mitigate the impact of the attack, including taking digital services offline. Contingency measures have been put in place to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time. This is an evolving situation, and we continue to update legal providers and users as it develops. To ensure that legal aid providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, and that affected parties can access the latest developments on the incident, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has created a dedicated space with contingencies and useful resources on GOV.UK.This data breach is the result of heinous criminal activity but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last Conservative Government. Upon taking office, I was shocked to see how fragile our legal aid systems were. They knew about the vulnerabilities of the Legal Aid Agency digital systems, but did not act. By contrast, since taking office, this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber attacks in future.

Whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of legal aid provision.

This Government has inherited a justice system in crisis, and the previous administration left the legal aid sector is under significant strain. We are committed to restoring our justice system and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the legal aid sector. We recently concluded a consultation on uplifts to some areas of civil legal aid fees. Once fully implemented, this would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish the Government response in due course. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, and the wider themes from the Review, in order to support the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector. On criminal legal aid, in November 2024 we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers. In addition, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system, subject to consultation. We are also committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession, including the Bar, on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.

Whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the legal services sector on (a) levels of employment and (b) gross value added.

The UK legal services sector is an important contributor to the economy. In 2023, the sector contributed £37 billion to the UK economy, equivalent to 1.6% of the real GVA, and posted a trade surplus of £7.6 billion.Additionally, in 2022, the UK’s legal services sector employed around 368,000 people across the country. Leading centres of legal services sector employment include London (133,000) Manchester (13,000), Birmingham (12,000), Leeds (9,000), Edinburgh and Glasgow (7,000), Sheffield and Cardiff (4,500), and Belfast (3,344).This information can be found in TheCityUK’s legal services report (December 2024): uk-legal-services-2024-legal-excellence-internationally-renowned.pdf

What steps she is taking (a) uphold the rule of law, (b) promote the UK's legal services and (c) increase access to justice.

The Government has made clear commitments to governing within the rule of law, and to promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law around the world. The rule of law therefore underpins the work done by the Ministry of Justice right across the justice system. The Ministry of Justice supports the UK’s legal services internationally by working to address market access barriers and promoting the legal sector, including through the ‘GREAT Legal Services’ campaign. Legal services will also form an important part of plans for professional and business services under the Government’s Industrial Strategy, in recognition of the key role they play in driving growth. The Government recently passed the Arbitration Act 2025 as one of its first acts of legislation. This will support the growth of London and the UK as a world leading jurisdiction for arbitration. To support access to justice, we announced in December 2024 that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system and deliver justice for victims. This is in addition to the £24 million increase for criminal legal aid solicitors announced in November, in response to the ‘Crime Lower’ consultation. We are also consulting on uplifts to fees for immigration and housing legal aid. Subject to consultation, an additional £20 million will be invested in the civil legal aid sector every year in steady state. The Department also continues to fund the activities of advice charities to bolster the delivery of essential advice and support services and improve access to legal support for people with social welfare problems. In the financial year 2025/26 we will provide over £6 million to 60 frontline organisations to help improve access to legal support

What steps she is taking to maintain the UK's status as a leader in legal services innovation.

The Ministry of Justice is keen to ensure the UK remains a world leader in legal services innovation. We achieve this through the LawtechUK programme, which, since 2019, has driven digital transformation in the legal sector. Key objectives of the programme include increasing innovation and adoption of lawtech in delivery of UK legal services, supporting the growth of the UK lawtech sector, and enabling English and Welsh law and the UK’s jurisdictions to become the foundation for emerging technology. The LawtechUK programme also supports the work of the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT). The UKJT promotes the use of English law and the UK’s jurisdictions for technology and digital innovation. They aim to provide market confidence and legal certainty for new and emerging technologies, such as Cryptoassets and AI. The Department works closely with international partners to co-operate on matters related to lawtech, including establishing dialogue on industry practise, knowledge sharing, and research. For example, the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, which is the first trade agreement in the world to include these specific commitments on lawtech. The Ministry of Justice also delivers The GREAT Legal Services campaign which promotes the strength and breadth of the UK’s legal services sector and expertise overseas and facilitates the export of high calibre legal services, including lawtech. LawtechUK works closely with this campaign to promote the UK as a global hub for lawtech, including hosting a reception in March for New York Legal Week.

Whether she plans to take steps to increase funding for the judicial system.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. Since taking office, the Lord Chancellor has funded up to 2,500 additional Crown Court sitting days this financial year, taking the total number of days sat to 108,500, the highest level since the financial year of 2015/16. On Wednesday 5 March, the Lord Chancellor announced for the financial year 2025/26, the Crown Court will be funded to sit up to 110,000 sitting days. It is also both the highest sitting day allocation made since HMCTS was created and the biggest fiscal resource settlement ever made for the Crown court. It is, in all respects, unprecedented and reflects how much importance this Government places on tackling the backlog.

What steps she is taking to support the (a) growth and (b) innovation of the lawtech industry.

The Ministry of Justice has supported the growth and innovation of the lawtech industry through the LawtechUK Programme providing £6 million in grant funding since 2019. Since 2023, LawtechUK has directly supported over 176 lawtech startups grow through their education programmes and attracted 1,274 attendees to 19 events, building a strong legal community focused on innovation.In the last year, LawtechUK have specifically focused on encouraging regional growth and maximising investment of lawtechs based outside of London and the South-East, with 53% of lawtechs on LawtechUK education programmes being based outside of these areas. This ensures that the social and economic benefits of lawtech are felt across the UK, not just in London which is already a global hub for lawtech.I will be speaking at the first UK Government-led lawtech conference on 12 March at Mansion House. The conference aims to highlight the success of the UK lawtech sector, the UK as a hub for innovation and the Government support on offer to lawtech companies.