Tag: Ministry of Justice

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 22 May 2025.

Landmark reforms that will end the prison crisis have been announced by the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood.

Landmark reforms that will end the prison crisis the government inherited, which threatens the complete breakdown of law and order on Britain’s streets, have been announced by the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood.

The sweeping review, published today by former Justice Secretary David Gauke, recommends comprehensively overhaul sentencing – ensuring jails never run out of space again and dangerous offenders can be kept off the streets. The majority of the recommendations have been accepted today in principle – with a Sentencing Bill due in the coming months.

The reforms will put public protection and cutting crime at the heart of the justice system and ensure the public is never put at risk again from the threat of prisons running out of space and police unable to make arrests.

In the past 14 years just 500 extra places were added to the prison estate, despite the prison population nearly doubling over the last 30 years. To put an end to this crisis, the government confirmed plans last week to invest £4.7 billion more in prison building, putting the government on track to open 14,000 places by 2031. It will be the largest prison expansion since the Victorian era, and 2,400 places have already been opened since July 2024.

Despite this unprecedented construction, the prison population is soaring – with the latest projections showing the country’s jails will be bust within months and 9,500 places short by early 2028 without further action. The government is taking the decisive action needed so we can protect the public and never allow the country to face the breakdown of our justice system again.

Making the case before Parliament today, the Lord Chancellor said:

Our prisons are, once again, running out of space and it is vital that the implications are understood. If our prisons collapse, courts are forced to suspend trials, the police must halt their arrests. Crime goes unpunished, criminals run amok and chaos reigns. We face the breakdown of law and order in this country.

The prison population is now rising by 3,000 each year and we are heading back towards zero capacity. It now falls to this Government to end this cycle of crisis. That starts by building prisons….This investment is necessary but not sufficient. We cannot build our way out of this crisis. Despite building as quickly as we can, demand for places will outstrip supply by 9,500 in early 2028.

Reforms accepted today will once and for all put prisons on a sustainable footing while protecting the public from dangerous criminals.

One key change will be a new “earned progression model” that will see prisoners earn their way to release through good behaviour or face longer in jail. There will be no automatic release for prisoners who misbehave.

The changes mean:

• A prisoner’s release date will now be more dependent on their behaviour. We want to reduce violence in prison and make sure more prisoners engage with activities like education and employment that will reduce crime.
• All offenders on standard determinate sentences will spend at least one-third of their sentence behind bars and have to earn their release at this point or face longer behind bars for bad behaviour.
• While we expect most offenders on these sentences to be released between 33 and 50 per cent – there is no upper limit and the very worst behaved offenders could spend longer in prison.
• Those serving standard determinate sentences for more serious offences will serve at least half in prison.

While David Gauke has suggested maximums of 50 and 67 percent in custody, respectively, for these sentences, the government has decided not to impose these.

In addition, the government has rejected the review’s recommendation to cut the minimum prison term for extended determinate sentences to 50%. The serious violent and sexual offenders serving these sentences will have to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence and their release will continue to be down to the Parole Board.

To enforce this approach, the government will introduce a tougher adjudication regime so that bad behaviour in prisons is properly punished.

When released, offenders will enter a new period of “intensive supervision” which will see tens of thousands more offenders tagged and many more placed under home detention.

To support the Probation Service, the government will significantly increase its funding – by around 45% by the final year of the spending review period. This means the annual budget of around £1.6 billion today will rise by up to £700m by 2028/29.

Other major changes include:

• Earlier deportation of foreign national offenders who are blocking up jails – removing foreign prisoners who have already served 30% of their custodial term, down from 50%. The Government will also work up plans to remove foreign prisoners serving less than three years as soon as possible after their sentencing. This builds on the government’s work to surge removals of foreign national offenders, with 4,436 foreign national offenders removed since July 2024 – a 14% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
• A presumption against custodial sentences of less than a year – in favour of tough community sentences that better punish offenders and stop them reoffending. Currently, almost 60 percent of those receiving a prison sentence of 12 months or less reoffended within a year. Judges will still retain the power to hand down sentences of 12 months or less to offenders who have breached a court order, including restraining orders and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, and in exceptional circumstances.

The government will expand tough punishments outside jail to force offenders to pay back the victims and communities they have harmed. This includes:

• Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
• Exploring wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
• More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.

The Justice Secretary will also go further than the Review’s recommendations:

• Developing new ways in which offenders can undertake tough, unpaid work, including doing a job for a private sector company with payment going to support victims. This could also include working closely with councils to find the jobs that need doing, including street cleaning and filling in potholes, and assigning an unpaid work team to complete them.
• Expanding the use of ‘medicines which manage problematic sexual arousal’, often referred to as chemical suppressants, on sex offenders following a pilot in south-west England to two additional regions, as part of a nationwide rollout, while exploring making this mandatory.

The Lord Chancellor added:

When discussing sentencing, it is too easy to focus on how we punish offenders when we should talk more about victims. Everything I am announcing today, is in pursuit of a justice system that serves victims.

If our prisons collapse, it is victims who pay the price and by cutting reoffending, we will have fewer victims in future.

As part of the government’s safer streets mission and to make sure victims see justice done, the Lord Chancellor has also accepted recommendations to:

• Increase tagging for VAWG perpetrators – enabling the closer monitoring of cowardly abusers to reassure victims, remove the onus from them to prove breaches had occurred.
• Identify perpetrators of domestic abuse at sentencing – requiring judges to flag domestic abuse at sentencing so prisons, probation and police can better identify and manage abusers.
• Expand Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts – bolstering support for victims and ensuring their abusers are properly supervised and rehabilitated.
• Bolster transparency for victims at sentencing – including the provision of free copies of judges’ sentencing remarks for victims of rape and other sexual offences, and ensuring they receive the information and support they need to navigate the criminal justice system.

Currently offenders can be given exclusion zones, preventing offenders from entering areas their victims might be. Going beyond the Review’s recommendations, the government will explore changes so some offenders are instead locked into specific ‘restriction zones’ monitored by GPS tags so victims can feel safe everywhere else.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 22 May 2025.

Following the attacks on 3 prison officers in the separation centre at HMP Frankland on 12 April, the Lord Chancellor announced on 15 May that Jonathan Hall KC will lead the HMP Frankland Independent Review.

The terms of the independent review are as follows:

• Consider whether the facts of the incident, as established by HMPPS’ internal review reveal the need for any changes to how convicted terrorists are placed onto Separation Centres.
• Consider whether the policies, operating procedures, legal framework, and relationships with other agencies that underpin Separation Centres are fit for purpose, including whether an appropriate balance is being struck between security and long-term offender management.
• Provide findings and recommendations on the basis of the above that can be implemented to reduce the likelihood of any such incident occurring in the future.

Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood said:

I will do whatever it takes to protect our brave prison officers. I have asked for the review to report back promptly, and to leave no stone unturned so we can prevent such an incident ever happening again.

Jonathan Hall KC

Jonathan Hall KC is the current Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation. Mr Hall is an experienced barrister in independent practice and King’s Counsel since 2014. He has been involved in complex and high-profile cases involving fraud, law enforcement, and national security.

While Mr Hall will be given access to the information he needs to deliver against the terms of reference, the review will be independent of HMPPS. The report on the Review, including any recommendations, will be submitted to the Lord Chancellor and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 21 May 2025.

The Secretaries of State for Justice and for Health and Social Care have approved the reappointment of Dr Margaret Flynn as Chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum (NMCF) for 3 years from 7 March 2025.

The NMCF was established by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care in 2015, in response to the 2014 House of Lords Select Committee post-legislative scrutiny report of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

The NMCF aims to raise awareness of the MCA and improve its implementation by joining up stakeholders from a wide range of sectors where the MCA applies, such as health and social care, banking, legal and third sector organisations.

The Chair of the NMCF is appointed by the Secretaries of State for Justice and for Health and Social Care. Appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Dr Margaret Flynn biography

Since 2019, Dr Flynn has been a Trustee of Anheddau Cyf, a not-for-profit charity supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health challenges across North Wales. She has been a Director of Flynn and Eley Associates Ltd since 2009 and has held various editorial roles for the Journal of Adult Protection since 1999.

Dr Flynn has chaired and written several reviews concerning people with compromised mental capacity, in particular a review into Winterbourne View Hospital during 2011. In 2013, she was commissioned by the First Minister of Wales to undertake a review of the neglect of older people living in care homes investigated as Operation Jasmine. More recently, Dr Flynn chaired Wales’ inaugural National Independent Safeguarding Board and wrote the review concerning Cawston Park Hospital. She is currently coordinating research activities for TIDE (together in dementia everyday) and is supporting its contributions to the SPIN Dementia Network (Sustainable Prevention, Innovation and involvement).

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 20 May 2025.

The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointment of Catherine Brown as Interim Chair of the Legal Services Board Wales.

Ms Brown is appointed until 31 December 2025.

The appointment of the LSB Chair is made by the Lord Chancellor, under the Legal Services Act 2007, after consulting the Lady Chief Justice.

The appointment is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Ministers consulted the Commissioner before making the appointment. This will ensure that the LSB has a Chair while a recruitment exercise is run.

Biography

Catherine Brown is an experienced non-executive board member, chair, and chief executive who has worked in the private and public sectors. Ms Brown was previously CEO of the Food Standards Agency and is now serving as the first Chair of the Enforcement Conduct Board; a new independent oversight body for the civil enforcement sector. Ms Brown was vice chair of the Wellcome Trust advisory group on increasing diversity and inclusion in science and served as an Equal Opportunities Commissioner. She is currently chair of the Internet Watch Foundation; a charity that exists to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse material on the internet.

Ms Brown has been a member of the Board of the LSB since 2019 and has been Chair of the LSB’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and then Senior Independent Director prior to her appointment as Interim Chair.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 19 May 2025.

An update following a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency’s online digital services.

On Wednesday 23 April, we became aware of a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency’s online digital services.

These are the services through which legal aid providers log their work and receive payment from the Government.

In the days following the discovery, we took immediate action to bolster the security of the system, and informed all legal aid providers that some of their details, including financial information, may have been compromised.

Since then, we have worked closely with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre as well as informing the Information Commissioner.

On Friday 16 May we discovered the attack was more extensive than originally understood and that the group behind it had accessed a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants.

We believe the group has accessed and downloaded a significant amount of personal data from those who applied for legal aid through our digital service since 2010.

This data may have included contact details and addresses of applicants, their dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments.

We would urge all members of the public who have applied for legal aid in this time period to take steps to safeguard themselves. We would recommend you are alert for any suspicious activity such as unknown messages or phone calls and to be extra vigilant to update any potentially exposed passwords. If you are in doubt about anyone you are communicating with online or over the phone you should verify their identity independently before providing any information to them.

Jane Harbottle, Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Aid Agency, said:

I understand this news will be shocking and upsetting for people and I am extremely sorry this has happened.

Since the discovery of the attack, my team has been working around the clock with the National Cyber Security Centre to bolster the security of our systems so we can safely continue the vital work of the agency.

However, it has become clear that to safeguard the service and its users, we needed to take radical action. That is why we’ve taken the decision to take the online service down.

We have put in place the necessary contingency plans to ensure those most in need of legal support and advice can continue to access the help they need during this time.

I am incredibly grateful to legal aid providers for their patience and cooperation at a deeply challenging time.

We will provide further updates shortly.

Further information on how to protect yourself from the impact of a data breach can be found on the NCSC website.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 14 May 2025.

The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP and Amy Rees CB spoke in a briefing at Downing Street about the extent of the prison capacity crisis and plans to counter it.

Good afternoon, everyone.

We are here today to talk about the situation in our prisons.

When I took office, nearly a year ago, I inherited prisons on the brink of collapse.

Despite the immediate measures we took to avert disaster, this crisis has not gone away.

David Gauke will soon publish his sentencing review.

It will set out how we end this cycle of crisis once and for all.

But today, I will talk about the situation that we face now…

And further measures that we must take to stabilise the prison population.

To do so, I would first like to turn to Amy Rees.

Until recently, Amy was Chief Executive of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service – having started out, 24 years ago, as a Prison Officer on the wings.

Now the Department’s interim Permanent Secretary, Amy will set out the scale of the challenge we face today.

[AMY REES]

Thank you, Lord Chancellor.

The total prison population is 88,087 – and the adult male estate is operating at approximately 99 percent of its capacity.

Every year, on our current trajectory, the prison population rises by 3,000.

And we now expect to hit zero capacity – to entirely run out of prison places for adult men – in November of this year.

The population has been rising, rapidly, for many years.

In 1993, the population was less than half its current level – at around 40,000 prisoners.

When I first joined the Service, in 2001, it was 65,000.

In recent years, it has accelerated rapidly to its current levels, and is forecast to be more than 100,000 by 2029.

The primary cause of this is clear.

Sentence lengths have increased considerably.

In 2005, the average custodial sentence was 13 months.

By 2023, it was 21 months – a 66 percent increase.

We now have a larger population of sentenced prisoners in our prisons – serving longer sentences than they used to.

While this is the primary cause, it is not the only cause.

The number of offenders brought back to prison after being released – known as recall – is a significant, though lesser, contributing factor.

In 1993, this ‘recalled’ population in prison was virtually non-existent at just 100 prisoners.

By 2018, it was 6,000.

And since then, levels have soared – more than doubling to 13,600 in March this year.

Until now, successive governments have attempted to manage prison capacity primarily by carrying out early releases.

In late 2023, the prison system was running at around 99 percent of its capacity.

Faced with the prospect of running out of prison places altogether, the End of Custody Supervised Licence Scheme was introduced in October 2023.

This meant eligible prisoners were automatically released up to 18 days before their scheduled released date, later increased to 35 days and then up to 70 days in May 2024.

This measure prevented prisons from running out of places entirely, but it only bought the service time.

By July last year, prisons were again operating close to maximum capacity.

Ministers announced plans for some prisoners serving standard determinate sentences to be released automatically at the 40 percent point of their sentence, rather than 50 percent.

A surge of these releases took place over two tranches in the autumn and again prevented prisons from filling up entirely.

In parallel, we have brought in other smaller-scale measures to manage capacity.

This includes moving some risk-assessed offenders out of prison and onto Home Detention – tagged and curfewed for a longer period.

These measures are important, but they do not address the scale of the challenge we face.

As I have said, the prison population is rising by around 3,000 a year – the equivalent of two large prisons every single year.

Even with these measures in place, we will run out of places in just five months’ time.

The operational reality of running prisons so close to their maximum capacity is that it creates a set of interconnected and escalating problems.

Even before you run out entirely, our prisons become more dangerous places.

With limited space, it becomes harder to manage prisons, and the challenges of violence and drugs grow.

This makes prisons less safe, and it leaves staff with less time to get prisoners to work and education – vital to ensuring that they leave prison less likely to reoffend.

We are already reliant on a small number of police cells in some parts of the country, where we hold offenders temporarily.

If capacity gets even tighter, as an exceptional measure we would activate ‘Operation Early Dawn’.

This means we convene a team at 05:30 am every day to track each individual potentially coming into custody, so that we can make sure there will be a space available for them.

Early Dawn was activated between 19 August to 9 September 2024, prior to the implementation of early releases.

It was also previously activated in October 2023, March 2024, and May 2024.

In recent weeks, we have come close to activating Early Dawn once again.

If Operation Early Dawn is unable to manage the flow of prisoners, the situation becomes intolerable.

We would, at this stage, see the managed breakdown of the criminal justice system.

Police holding cells would be full, and the police would be faced with being unable to make arrests.

Courts would need to consider bail for offenders they would normally consider dangerous enough to remand to prison.

If the system reaches that point, there would be a clear risk to public safety and the only solution would be rapid emergency releases.

This would mean offenders being let out of prison without time for probation officers and other services to put in place release plans designed to protect the public.

And even this would only buy us time.

The prison population will keep rising.

Without a long-term plan, sooner or later we would run out of places once more.

That is the situation in the prison service as it stands today.

And I’m now going to hand back to the Lord Chancellor to talk about the path forward from here.

[LORD CHANCELLOR]

This Government will end the cycle of crisis.

We will bring order and control back to our prisons.

That starts by building more of them.

Last December, we published a long-term building strategy, setting out our aim to open up 14,000 prison places by 2031.

This is the largest expansion of the prison estate since the Victorians.

And we are not wasting time.

We have already committed £2.3 billion to prison expansion.

And since taking office, we have delivered 2,400 new places.

We will now go further.

While the spending review is ongoing, I can announce today that the Treasury will fund our prison expansion plans, in full, across the spending review period.

This is a total capital investment of £4.7bn.

It allows us to start building three new prisons…

Including breaking ground on a site near HMP Gartree later this year.

This investment will also fund new cells at existing prisons…

With new houseblocks and rapid deployment cells opened across the country.

This is a record prison expansion.

We are building at breakneck pace.

But we must be honest.

Prison building is necessary…

But it is not sufficient.

We cannot build our way out of this crisis.

Despite record prison building, the population is simply rising too fast.

By Spring 2028, even with the funding I have announced today, we will be 9,500 places short.

The conclusion is clear:

We have to do things differently.

In October, I appointed David Gauke to lead an independent review of sentencing.

He has been ably supported by a panel that draws together expertise from across the criminal justice system.

I cannot and will not get ahead of their recommendations.

But let me be clear about the task that they have been set.

The sentencing review must ensure there is always space in prison for dangerous offenders.

To achieve this, the panel will have to recommend a reduction in the length of some custodial sentences…

And an expansion of punishment outside prison, for those offenders who can be managed in the community.

At the same time, I have set David a clear condition:

We must protect the public in whatever measures we pursue.

Too often today, our prisons do the opposite.

They create better criminals and not better citizens…

With 80% of offenders now reoffenders.

Across the world, there are models that we can learn from.

David and I both visited Texas earlier this year.

There, offenders who comply with a strict regime earn an earlier release…

While those who behave badly are locked up for longer.

Crime there is now at a 50-year low, reoffending is down, and the prison population is under control.

Meanwhile, technology – both existing and emerging – clearly has the potential to transform community punishment.

A study published last week shows our radio frequency tagging is cutting reoffending by around 20 percent.

And emerging technology presents us with further opportunities.

We are entering a world where tech has the potential to impose a digital prison outside of prison, surveilling offenders even more closely than they can be watched in jail.

To make our streets safer, we must seize on these opportunities.

While the Sentencing Review offers us our path to ending the capacity crisis in our prisons, for good, it will take time to take effect.

The impact of sentencing reforms will not be felt before Spring next year.

On our current trajectory, hitting zero capacity in November, we simply do not have that time.

There will be no return to the releases we saw late last year.

But I have always been clear that, if further measures are required, I am willing to take them.

Today, I am announcing a measure that will target the recall population, which has more than doubled in seven years.

We will bring legislation in the coming weeks that means those serving sentences of between one and four years can only be returned to prison for a fixed, 28-day period.

Some offenders will be excluded from this measure…

Including any offender who has been recalled for committing a serious further offence.

We also exclude those who are subject to higher levels of risk management by multiple agencies, where the police, prisons and probation services work together.

This measure builds on previous legislation introduced by the last Government, who mandated 14-day recalls for those serving sentences of under a year.

And, crucially, it buys us the time we need to introduce the sentencing reforms that – alongside our record prison building plans – will end the crisis in our prisons for good.

The consequences of failing to act are unthinkable, but they must be understood.

If our prisons overflow…

Courts cancel trials…

Police halt their arrests…

Crime goes unpunished…

And we reach a total breakdown of law and order.

I was confronted by that prospect when I took office.

I am confronted by it again now.

But I will never let it happen.

This Government is building new prisons, more than any other in the modern era.

But we are also facing into the fact that we cannot just build our way out of this crisis.

This Government will do whatever it takes to ensure we never run out of prison places again.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 13 May 2025.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill will protect vulnerable people who are encouraged or assisted to self-harm.

• New laws to protect vulnerable people at risk of self-harm
• Those who provide the tools for self-harm face up to 5 years behind bars, helping to cut crime and deliver the government’s plan for change
• Perpetrators face prosecution even if no self-harm takes place

Vulnerable people who are encouraged or assisted to harm themselves will have greater protection under a new offence being introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the government is pushing ahead with vital new measures to further protect those at risk – with recent NHS data showing self-harm hospital admissions among young people have soared by a third.

The government is going further to strengthen safeguards – broadening the law to capture more malicious behaviour, bringing parity between the online and offline world and protect people who are at risk of suicide or self-harm.

The new laws will make it a criminal offence to directly assist someone to self-harm – such as giving someone a blade or sending them pills – whether it is done in person or online. This will build on existing laws that already prevent people encouraging or assisting suicide or self-harm through content online.

Minister for Victims and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Alex Davies-Jones, said

The prevalence of serious self-harm, especially in young people, is hugely concerning. It is an awful truth that some people encourage or assist such behaviour, and one I wanted to draw attention to during Mental Health Awareness Week.

Whether encouragement is by communication, or more directly by assistance, the outcome is the same. We are determined that anybody intending to see others harm themselves is stopped and dealt with in the strongest way.

Under this broader offence, someone can also be prosecuted if their intention is to cause serious self-harm even when this does not result in injuries to the vulnerable person. Those found guilty face up to 5 years in prison.

Self-harm can occur at any age. A recent study on people aged 13 to 15 reported that prevalence was greater among girls (22.7%) than boys (8.5%).

There is also increasing evidence of links between internet usage and self-harm, with one study finding that, among self-harm hospital presentations, the prevalence of suicide and self-harm related internet use was 26% among children and adolescents.

Anybody struggling with self-harm or suicidal thoughts is urged to get in touch with their GP or get advice and emotional support from organisations such as the Samaritans, Mind, or SANEline.

Background information

• To avoid criminalising vulnerable people who share their experiences of self-harm publicly, if a person does not intend to encourage or assist serious self-harm then they will not be prosecuted as they did not mean to cause any harm to others. This enables the issue to continue to be discussed openly, for awareness and therapeutic purposes, without fear of repercussion.
• Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 12 to 18 May 2025
• The Online Safety Act 2023 gave partial effect to the Law Commission recommendation to create an offence, modelled on the offence of encouraging and assisting suicide, to tackle the encouragement of self-harm. It did so by introducing a new offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm by means of verbal or electronic communications, publications or correspondence
• The Crime and Policing Bill will repeal the existing offence and replace it with a broader offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm to cover all means by which serious self-harm broader may be encouraged or assisted, including by any means of communication and in any other way
• The offence contains two key elements to ensure that the offence does not disproportionately impact vulnerable people who harm themselves and constrains the offence to only the most culpable offending. These are (1) that the defendant’s act must be intended to encourage or assisting the serious self-harm of another person; and (2) that the defendant’s act is capable of encouraging or assisting the serious self-harm of another person. The offence therefore targets those who intend by their act to cause another person to seriously self-harm Sharing experiences of self-harm, or simply discussing the issue, without such intention will not be a criminal offence
• For more information on hospital admission breakdown data visit: Hospital admissions related to self harm, with age and geographical breakdowns – NHS England Digital

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2025.

UK submits a shortlist of 3 candidates for election as the next judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the UK.

Three candidates have been nominated to be the next European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judge elected in respect of the UK in succession to Tim Eicke KC. The ECtHR is established under the European Convention of Human Rights and sits in Strasbourg. A member of the Court is elected in respect of each of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), from lists of 3 candidates proposed by each State.

Following an open selection process administered by the Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales, the United Kingdom candidates, listed in alphabetical order, are:

• Mr Hugh Mercer KC, a UK barrister and Deputy High Court Judge
• Ms Deok Joo Rhee KC, a UK barrister
• Mr Sam Wordsworth KC, a UK barrister

One of these candidates will be elected by PACE during its plenary session 23 to 27 June 2025 for a 9-year term from 12 September 2025.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2025.

Thousands of victims across England and Wales stand to benefit as the Government launches a major consultation on criminal legal aid today.

The eight-week consultation will aim to deliver more efficient justice for victims and stabilise the criminal legal aid system by investing millions more in criminal legal aid.

The sector will benefit from up to £92 million a year in additional funding for criminal legal aid solicitors working in police stations, courts, and prisons. This funding aims to improve access to justice for victims and addresses the crisis inherited in the legal aid system.

This major investment forms a core part of the Government’s Plan for Change – recognising the vital work of criminal legal aid lawyers, driving reform, and helping to keep our streets safe.

Minister for Courts and Legal Services, Sarah Sackman KC, said:

These proposals mark a crucial step in rebuilding a legal aid sector that has been neglected for too long.

Access to justice is a cornerstone of our legal system, and this investment will ensure that the wheels of justice continue to move.

As part of our Plan for Change, we’re putting legal aid on a sustainable footing now and for the future.

These proposals lay the groundwork for long-term reform of the criminal legal aid system, making it easier for solicitors to take on legal aid cases while ensuring that everyone can access help, wherever they live.

They build on our earlier £24 million investment in solicitors working in police stations and Youth Courts, strengthening frontline legal support where it’s most needed.

This is part of our wider mission to support victims and deliver faster justice. Alongside this investment the Lord Chancellor is funding a record 110,000 court sitting days this financial year to tackle the outstanding backlog in the Crown Court.  An independent review of criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, is also exploring bold reforms that could cut delays and put victims first.

We continue to work closely with legal professions, including the Criminal Bar Association and Bar Council, to improve the system as a whole.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 9 May 2025.

New guidance sets out how workers can best support survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

• New guidance to strengthen consistency of emotional and practical support for victims
• First ever guidance on Independent Stalking Advocates to be published next year
• Forms part of the government’s Plan for Change to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade

Consistency of support for victims of sexual and domestic abuse is set to be bolstered through new guidance published today (Friday 9 May).

New guidance on Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and updated guidance for Independent Sexual Violence Advisers will set out how these vital workers can best support brave survivors of physical and sexual abuse.

The guidance will cover issues such as how to best help victims navigate the criminal justice system, or how to signpost survivors to support services in the community. It will also look at how advisers can better support the needs of the most vulnerable, including children, through the use of age-appropriate materials.

In addition, the government will publish the first ever guidance for Independent Stalking Advocates next year. The first of its kind, the guidance will be developed by experts in this area, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.

This work forms part of the government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade and to create safer streets through its Plan for Change.

Minister for Victims and Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones, said:

Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers are vital in supporting victims of domestic and sexual abuse – from helping to navigate the court process to advising on services they can access in their community.

Today’s guidance will help to improve the consistency of that support. This marks another step forwards in halving violence against women and girls as part of our Plan for Change.

Sexual and domestic abuse has devasting consequences for victims. An Independent Domestic Violence Adviser and Independent Sexual Violence Adviser can help to support victims when this happens – from providing one to one emotional support or signposting to community-based services, to providing practical support such as help to access refuge accommodation or advice on the court process.

The Independent Domestic Violence Adviser and Independent Sexual Violence Adviser guidance has been developed in close collaboration with the victim support sector to ensure it accurately reflects how these roles should operate in practice to give victims the support they need.

As set out in the Victims and Prisoners Act, criminal justice bodies and other organisations with public functions relating to victims have a duty to consider the best practice recommendations within the guidance. The intention is to improve the way in which professionals work together to support victims.

Background information

• Section 16 (1) of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 provides a duty on the Secretary of State to issue guidance on specified victim support roles.
• The Victim Support (Specified Roles) Regulations 2025 specify victim support roles about which guidance will be published under section 16. The regulations specify Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, Independent Sexual Violence Advisers, and Independent Stalking Advocates.
• A targeted consultation with the victim support sector seeking views on the Independent Domestic Violence Adviser and Independent Sexual Violence Adviser guidance ran January – February 2025.