Written questions by Blundell.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the participation of the voluntary sector to assist with the probation service.

We recognise the valuable role played by the thousands of voluntary sector organisations that work in partnership with prisons and the Probation Service to provide vital support to people serving their sentences in prison and on returning to the community.We welcome the Independent Sentencing Review’s recommendations on how we can better harness the value the Third Sector can add to probation work, building even stronger partnerships to enable better targeting of resources and improve outcomes for offenders.The Ministry of Justice and H M Prison and Probation Service are continuing to work with voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to define the role that they can play in the Probation Service of the future.

What assessment he has made of the potential for a role for the voluntary sector in helping support the Probation Service during the period after release.

We recognise the valuable role played by the thousands of voluntary sector organisations that work in partnership with prisons and the Probation Service to provide vital support to people serving their sentences in prison and on returning to the community.We welcome the Independent Sentencing Review’s recommendations on how we can better harness the value the Third Sector can add to probation work, building even stronger partnerships to enable better targeting of resources and improve outcomes for offenders.The Ministry of Justice and H M Prison and Probation Service are continuing to work with voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to define the role that they can play in the Probation Service of the future.

What steps he is taking to help support female victims within the courts system.

This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with victims waiting years for justice. On 25 February 2026, the Deputy Prime Minister announced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, aiming to deliver faster, fairer justice for victims. These reforms are designed to progress cases more quickly through the criminal courts, reduce uncertainty, and increase transparency for victims and witnesses by ensuring more effective triage across the system. We will also implement crucial reforms, recommended by the Law Commission, to ensure that victims are no longer unfairly undermined by evidence in the court room.This Government is committed to ensuring female victims have the information and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system. We have recently launched a consultation on a new Victims’ Code to ensure we get the foundations for victims right. The Victims and Courts Bill will additionally provide a new route for victims to request information via a dedicated helpline, which will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.We have made the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support services over the next three years. The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice’s victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types. This includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion, based on their assessment of local need as well as funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. Local assessments will incorporate considerations of the volume and needs of female victims of crime.In addition, we continue to fund the long-standing Witness Service. This provides on-the-day emotional and practical support to witnesses (including those who are victims) to help them give their best evidence. This may include providing information about the court and its processes, facilitating explanations around any delays and accompanying the witness (if allowed by the court) into the court room when they give evidence.

What steps he is taking to ensure improved monitoring of serious offenders post-release by the probation service.

The Probation Service closely supervises serious offenders released from custody to protect the public and manage risk. The Government is investing in expanded monitoring and introducing new restrictive licence conditions to further strengthen probation’s ability to monitor and manage serious offenders in the community.Electronic Monitoring (EM) is available for the Parole Board and probation to apply to individuals serving Extended Determinate Sentences or life sentences on release. In addition, we are significantly expanding the post‑custody use of EM. Recent policy changes, including the presumption to apply EM to Short Determinate Sentence leavers, mean thousands more offenders will be tagged in the community over the coming years as part of the Government’s plan to strengthen supervision, manage risk, and keep the public safe.Whilst tagging is an important tool for probation, it is only one element of a wider range of measures used to monitor and manage individuals in the community. These include risk assessments, curfews, mandatory appointments, behavioural requirements, and where necessary, enforcement action.Probation supervision is tailored to an offender’s risk and offence type, with licence conditions used to manage their risk in the community. Under our reforms, the highest risk offenders will continue to be supervised by Probation until the end of their sentence, to manage risk of harm and protect the public. They will face the toughest supervision – including GPS tracking, curfews, and exclusion zones.Those convicted of sexual offending and subject to the notification requirements, serious violent offenders where the custodial term is 12 months or more, and those convicted of terrorism offences, fall to be managed under the statutory Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Under MAPPA, the Police, Probation and Prison Services must work together, with input from other agencies as necessary, to assess and manage the risks posed by such offenders. The Probation Service will supervise such offenders until they have completed their sentence, including for any period of licensed supervision in the community, in order to protect the public.

What steps his taking to help reduce violent reoffending.

Reducing violent reoffending is a central priority for this Government. We are strengthening the Probation Service, enhancing supervision of high-risk offenders, and delivering evidence-based interventions to address the drivers of violent crime.We are investing in probation to ensure robust supervision and effective risk management of offenders in the community, including expanding electronic monitoring, and strengthening frontline capability. Supervision is tailored to risk and offence type, with licence conditions used to manage behaviour and protect the public. Under our reforms, high-risk offenders will continue to be supervised until the end of their sentence. They will face the toughest measures, including GPS tagging, curfews, exclusion zones, and new restriction zones where appropriate. We also make full use of recall powers where risk escalates, or licence conditions are breached.Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) are central to managing serious violent and sexual offenders. Under MAPPA, probation, police and prisons work together to assess and manage risk through coordinated plans which can include enhanced supervision, regular multi-agency reviews, information sharing, and targeted risk management measures. High-risk offenders are subject to closer monitoring and oversight to ensure swift action where risk escalates.Alongside enforcement, HMPPS delivers accredited offending behaviour programmes and wider rehabilitative support, including access to education, employment, accommodation, and substance misuse treatment. Building Choices, based on the latest international evidence on “What Works” to reduce reoffending, is an accredited cognitive-behavioural intervention designed to address attitudes, thinking patterns and behaviours linked to violent and other serious offending. It completed national rollout at the end of 2025 and is now available across England and Wales.

What steps he is taking to improve probation services.

A package of measures has been announced to continue rebuilding the Probation Service, reflecting the Government’s commitment to strengthening probation services and improving public protection. By the final year of the spending review period, funding for probation and community services will increase by up to £700 million, an increase of around 45%.Recruitment and training of staff remain high priorities, to ensure we have a sufficient workforce to safely supervise and manage people in the community. And we are recruiting more probation officers. The Probation Service exceeded our 2024-25 trainee target of 1,000, successfully onboarding 1,057 trainees and we have committed to onboarding a further 1,300 trainees in 2025/26.Through the Our Future Probation Service (OFPS) Programme we will address the imbalance between capacity and workload, by reducing probation workloads by 25% by April 2027. We will achieve this by streamlining processes, reducing administrative tasks, and ensuring staff time is focused where it can have the greatest impact.We are developing better digital tools to reduce the administrative burden at multiple stages of the probation journey, allowing probation practitioners to focus on public protection and rehabilitation. For example, we have developed Justice Transcribe, an AI-powered tool that takes meeting audio and turns into an accurate summary. This is done in minutes, and it cuts the time spent on writing up notes by more than 70%. Practitioners have reported reduced stress, increased confidence and more time to focus on people on probation, public safety and decision-making rather than administration.Probation will prioritise supervision in the critical period after release – when offenders are most likely to reoffend – and focus resources on those who pose the highest risk. The Sentencing Act 2026 introduces several measures to streamline processes and enable probation to focus their efforts where they matter most to protect the public. The Government is also investing in expanded monitoring and introducing new restrictive licence conditions to further strengthen probation’s ability to monitor and manage serious offenders in the community.Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) are specialist interventions delivered in partnership with private, voluntary and community organisations to support individuals under probation supervision, or on license following release from custody. They address key rehabilitative needs that, if unmet, increase the risk of reoffending and are designed to complement and improve access to mainstream services such as housing, healthcare, and local authority support. New contracts will go live in summer 2027 (Men) and Autumn 2028 (Women) which will further enhance the service offering including person-centred, strengths-based services with enhanced community links to connect offenders to new opportunities and social networks; enhanced custodial delivery; and greater focus on outcomes including distance-travelled.

What steps he is taking to protect women and girls from violent offenders who have been released.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission: to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out stronger perpetrator management, including the commitment to nationally rollout Domestic Abuse Protection Orders across all police forces in England and Wales, which is critical in meeting this government ambition.The Probation Service robustly manages offenders released from custody with a range of tools in the community and can respond to any breaches of licence with recall to prison where appropriate. The Sentencing Bill strengthens this by giving new powers to Probation to prohibit offenders from driving, attending public events and entering pubs, clubs and bars. It also introduces restriction zones, which will limit the movements of serious sexual and violent offenders to a specific geographical area, where appropriate, giving victims the peace of mind they deserve.Further, regarding Electronic Monitoring (EM), the Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence (DAPOL) pilot operates across eight probation regions, allowing Probation Practitioners to impose electronically monitored licence conditions on eligible prison leavers at the point of release from custody where necessary and proportionate. Conditions may include curfews, exclusion zones, required attendance at specified appointments, and GPS trail monitoring, with multiple applied risk assessments support it. DAPOL can also run alongside Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) where alcohol misuse is linked to risk. Evaluation findings indicate that DAPOL provides reassurance to victims, with Victim Liaison Officers reporting that the ability to evidence breaches quickly helps reduce victim anxiety and strengthens confidence in the justice system.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that appeals for education, health and care plans for SEND children reaching tribunal are processed swiftly.

We acknowledge that more needs to be done to reduce the time parents and young people have to wait to have their appeals heard and determined in the First-tier Tribunal (SEND). We are continuing to invest in the recruitment of up to 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions this year, including specific recruitment for the FTT, including SEND, which will increase judicial capacity.Alongside this, we are supporting the Tribunal Procedure Committee’s consultation on allowing suitable, lower complexity cases to be determined on the papers—subject to judicial discretion and the option to opt-out—so that hearing time is reserved for the most complex matters. A judicial alternative dispute resolution pilot is also helping to resolve appropriate disputes earlier.The pressures facing the Tribunal are indicative of wider pressures in the SEND system.  We are working with the Department for Education in the longer term to reduce the demands on the tribunal so that the outstanding caseload, and the time taken for the tribunal to determine appeals, is reduced.

What steps she is taking to support bereaved families who have lost loved ones as a result of serious and violent crimes committed by reoffenders.

The Government is committed to ensuring families bereaved by homicide receive the support they need to help them build resilience to cope with the impact of these devastating crimes.Families bereaved by homicide have rights under the Victim’s Code, which sets out the minimum level of service that victims should receive. Under the Victims’ Code, they are entitled to be given information about and be referred to victim support services by the police. The Ministry of Justice also commissions a National Homicide Service, delivered by Victim Support, to provide a consistent level of support across England and Wales to families bereaved by homicide.Addressing reoffending is critical to public safety. We follow the evidence to tackle the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions. Serious Further Offences (SFOs) committed by offenders subject to probation supervision are rare but have a devastating impact on victims, which is why we conduct thorough investigations into each one. The findings of SFO reviews are shared with victims, as we recognise that it is vital that victims understand any improvement we need to make as a direct result of the SFO.

What steps she is taking to help improve the quality of probation services across the North West of England.

The Probation Service in the North West has developed a Quality Improvement Plan which prioritises and focuses improvement activity across Probation Delivery Units in the region, and at regional level, and includes actions derived from internal audits and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation reports. Progress is routinely monitored, assured and supported by regional and national, Performance, Assurance and Risk functions.We regularly publish performance ratings for each region of the Probation Service, which can be found at the following link: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2024 - GOV.UK.We are hiring 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 in addition to the 1,050 already appointed last year. We are also investing in new technology to lift the administrative burden on probation officers so they can focus on what they do best – managing and rehabilitating offenders.Probation funding will increase by up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review – a 45% increase in the next three years. We will deliver thousands more tags, more staff, and more accommodation to ensure that offenders are tracked and monitored closely in the community.

What steps she is taking to target additional judicial resources toward court settings which are at capacity in Greater Manchester.

We are continuing to invest in judicial recruitment nationally, across all jurisdictions, with plans to recruit around 1000 judges and tribunal members in 2025-26; and around 2,000 magistrates in 2025-26, and annually thereafter. Following recruitment, regional and court level deployment decisions are a matter for the judiciary, and we support actions to flexibly deploy judges to maximise capacity where it is needed.Our assessment is that overall there is currently sufficient judicial capacity in the courts in the North West, including Greater Manchester. Any vacancies which may arise as a result of departures are expected to be filled through planned recruitment.

Whether she has considered establishing an independent national oversight mechanism for deaths involving (a) state and (b) law enforcement bodies.

The Government is committed to improving transparency and accountability in the state’s response to learning from investigations involving state-related deaths and more widely. To this end, we are actively considering how we can most effectively address concerns about the lack of oversight and monitoring of recommendations and findings from public inquiries, inquests and other investigation processes.For example, in the context of the recent response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report (Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report: Government response (HTML) - GOV.UK), we have undertaken to establish a publicly accessible record of all recommendations made by public inquiries since 2024; we will ensure that this becomes standard practice for all future public inquiry reports; and will consider putting the requirement to maintain such a record on a statutory footing.In addition, the Ministry of Justice is undertaking a programme of work in light of the Justice Committee’s recent recommendations for the coroner service, including those aimed at better learning from death investigation and other fact-finding processes. This will include further work to improve accessibility to information from coroners’ Prevention of Future Death reports; and to ensure, particularly across government, that lessons from these reports are learned; that learning is disseminated as quickly and widely as possible; and that it is effectively monitored and evaluated. We are also working with the Chief Coroner to identify ways to further improve the transparency and availability of the published reports and accountability for responses to them.

What steps she is taking to increase sentences for individuals that sell knives to (a) teenagers and (b) young people.

While it is the function of the independent judiciary to decide the sentence in individual cases, subject to the maximum sentence available and sentencing guidelines, tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to halve knife crime in a decade as part of its Safer Streets Mission. This is why, through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will increase the maximum penalty for offences relating to offensive weapons from six months to two years’ imprisonment.These are for the offences of manufacturing, selling, hiring, offer for hire, lending or possessing in private any prohibited offensive weapon as detailed in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988. These also cover the offence of selling a knife or bladed article to anyone under 18 years of age.Currently, the law is that anyone over 18 years of age found guilty of any of these offences will face a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both. This Government believes that the maximum penalty does not reflect the seriousness of these offences, and that the maximum penalty should be in line with the current offence of unlawful marketing of knives which carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment. This will align the maximum penalties for the offences in relation to sales of knives.In addition to this, the Government has launched an Independent Review of Sentencing chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The Review aims to ensure that the sentencing framework is consistent, protects the public and that there is always a place in prison for violent offenders.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Pathfinder family court scheme being rolled out in (a) Wales, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) Greater Manchester.

The Pathfinder pilot started in February 2022 in Dorset and North Wales. It was expanded to Southeast Wales and Birmingham in 2024. On 3 February this year we announced it will start in Mid and West Wales on 3 March and in West Yorkshire on 3 June.Data published in February showed that Pathfinder courts in North Wales and Dorset resolve cases 11 weeks earlier on average and the backlog of cases has reduced by over 50% since the pilot started.A two-part evaluation of the pilot in North Wales and Dorset is underway and will be published this year. That will include a process evaluation based on the experience of practitioners, as well as research with children and families who have taken part in the pilot. A feasibility study is currently underway which will develop feasible options to inform our longer-term evaluation strategy.No assessment has been made to date about the potential implications of the Pathfinder pilot being rolled out in Greater Manchester.

What steps she has taken to reduce the amount of time taken for cases related to perpetrators of domestic abuse to reach court in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Rochdale Borough.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve levels of these crimes in a decade.Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts, where cases move more swiftly than at the Crown Court. The average number of days from charge to completion was 67 days in Q3 2024. However, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system. This financial year, we have funded 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court, the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16). The Lord Chancellor has also commissioned an independent review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible to deliver swifter justice for all victims, including victims of domestic abuse.We are also working to improve protection for victims. Greater Manchester was one of the first areas in England and Wales to offer greater protection for victims of domestic abuse, through our Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot, launched last November.At the national level, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Police Chiefs’ Council are working together to transform how cases are investigated and prosecuted. Their Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan, launched last November, is grounded in the recognition that better communication between police and CPS, throughout the life of a case, improves outcomes for victims.

What steps she is taking to reduce backlogs in family courts in (a) Greater Manchester Combined Authority and (b) Rochdale Borough Council.

Delays in the court process can have a significant impact on children and families. We are committed to improving timeliness and reducing the outstanding caseload.The Family Justice Board agreed system-wide national targets for reducing delay in 2024/25. These are focused on closing the longest running cases in private and public law, and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe.As part of system-wide efforts, the Department for Education is investing £10 million to develop and implement local area initiatives to address the longest delays in public law cases. This includes a pre-case management hearing pilot which involves an information sharing meeting between the Local Authority Social Worker and the Cafcass Guardian. The pilot aims to reduce family court delay by ensuring that the case management hearing is as effective as possible at reducing the need for additional hearings. Rochdale and other local authorities within Greater Manchester have been actively participating in the pilot which is due to conclude at the end of March 2025. The pilot is being independently evaluated which will help inform future plans to reduce family court delay.The Government has committed further funding for Pathfinder for private law in the next financial year, which is live in four areas. It will start in Mid and West Wales on 3 March and West Yorkshire on 3 June. Further expansion of the scheme will be confirmed in due course.The Lord Chancellor agrees the programme of recruitment every year with the Lady Chief Justice, prioritising building judicial capacity where it will have the greatest impact on securing government objectives. This includes recruiting additional judges to hear Family cases.

What steps she is taking to ensure legal aid is accessible to people using the family courts in the North West.

With regards to scope, in private family proceedings, legal aid is available for matters such as child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or is at risk of being abused.Legal aid is also available in certain private family proceedings if a child is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse. Funding is subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse as specified in legal aid legislation and meeting the relevant merits and financial eligibility criteria.A financial eligibility waiver is available for victims of domestic abuse applying for protective injunctions, such as non-molestation orders, which means they can receive legal aid even if they would not otherwise pass the means test, though they may be required to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs.In public family proceedings, means-free legal aid is available for parents, those with parental responsibility, and children in public family law special Children Act’s cases, including care proceedings and adoption proceedings under the Children Act 1989 as well as in related proceedings.Legal aid funded services are provided by independent organisations who hold contracts to carry out legal aid work. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for the commissioning and procurement of these contracts. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate supply of family law services in the North West of England.

What steps her Department is taking to expedite the judicial process for those charged with domestic abuse offences.

As part of our landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, we are committed to strengthening the justice system’s response to domestic abuse.Decisions on case listing are a matter for the independent judiciary, who do, where possible, look to prioritise cases involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, such as victims of domestic abuse.Most domestic abuse cases are heard in Magistrates’ Courts where cases move more swiftly than at the Crown Court. Despite this, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system.  We are actively exploring the merits of specialist court models and have committed to fast-track rape cases through the Crown Court.In November, we launched the Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO) pilot to provide more protection for victims and we have also committed to introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms.

What recent discussions she has had with officials in Greater Manchester on taking steps to protect victims of domestic abuse.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. We will use every tool within our power to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse. For instance, in November, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) in selected areas including Greater Manchester, to provide more protection for victims. Working closely with all our delivery partners in the Greater Manchester area has been critical to the successful pilot launch in this area, and we engage regularly with Greater Manchester Central Authority via our Greater Manchester DAPO Local Partner Steering Group.