Alex Davies-Jones MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 16 Dec 2025 · International Child Abduction: Domestic Abuse · Hansard source

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  I welcome the hon. Lady’s question and her continued engagement on this really important issue. The Government are now considering initiating further qualitative research on the operation of the 1980 Hague convention in cases relating to domestic abuse. I can confirm that this research will inform any future policy and ensure that reforms are grounded in robust evidence, improving outcomes for both children and survivors. I will endeavour to keep her updated and involved in the development of that.

• 16 Dec 2025 · International Child Abduction: Domestic Abuse · Hansard source

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  The Government take seriously concerns about the operation of this Hague convention in situations where domestic abuse is present. Internationally, the UK continues to work with other parties of the convention to ensure that it operates effectively, particularly in cases involving domestic abuse. We have been an active member of the steering committee for two international forums to discuss and share best practice on this issue, and we have contributed financially to support these events.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Online Misogyny: Victims · Hansard source

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  All misogyny is abhorrent, but we know that online misogyny is becoming increasingly pervasive. We have criminalised the creation of intimate deepfakes without consent, and we are creating new offences in the Crime and Policing Bill that will mean that perpetrators who take intimate images without consent face up to two years in prison. We will go further to ensure that we stamp out misogyny wherever it is—online or in the real world.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Online Misogyny: Victims · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman will know that these crimes have no borders, especially online misogyny crimes. They do not take place in a silo, and it will take all of us to tackle them, including those of us in the England and Wales jurisdiction of the criminal justice system and those across our devolved counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland—and, as he states, in the Republic of Ireland too. We regularly meet with our counterparts to discuss these issues, and no stone will be left unturned when it comes to tackling misogyny.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Online Misogyny: Victims · Hansard source

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  I totally agree with my hon. Friend. Online misogyny radicalises our boys, pressures our girls, and fuels harmful attitudes. It must be tackled in order to protect all our children. The Government are acting through tougher laws, including the Online Safety Act 2023, and our upcoming violence against women and girls strategy will protect children from harm online. Prevention is fundamental, so we are supporting schools to teach children about respect, consent and healthy relationships. I can inform the House that the Secretary of State for Education is in Australia right now learning about the model used over there to see how we can best learn lessons from it and apply them here.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Family Court: Reform · Hansard source

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  I welcome the hon. Lady’s question. The Government are committed to reforming the family court to improve support for adult and child victims of domestic abuse. The pathfinder model provides expert support to victims and doubles the proportion of children seen by social workers. A quarter of all relevant cases will follow this model by January, and we are determined to go further.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Family Court: Reform · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right; the delays in our family court are untenable, and families, children particularly, are waiting too long for resolution. That is why we are determined to go further by rolling out our pathfinder model to ensure a child-centric approach to the family court. She will be aware that we are determined to repeal the presumption of parental involvement through our Victims and Courts Bill, which is going through the House. We are also determined to really get to grips with our family court. If the hon. Lady writes to me about that specific case, I will ensure that she gets a full response.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Criminal Justice System: Wales · Hansard source

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  I would like to see the information that the right hon. Lady has, because the information I have had is that our court system in Wales has quite a severe backlog. Victims and survivors who I speak to in Wales daily have told me that they are waiting years for their case to get to trial. That backlog is very real. If the right hon. Lady has information to the contrary, I would welcome that. We know that the issue in our courts is quite severe at the moment. Going back to our prisons, HMP Usk scored the highest possible score across all four areas of assessment. Despite a challenging time across the estates, HMPPS in Wales identified strengths in leadership and governance, along with collaborative working with the Welsh Government. It shows that this can be done well, and all our prisons have robust action plans in place to ensure continued improvement and ongoing development. The right hon. Lady mentioned our Welsh courts. They are performing well. The Crown court performance in Wales is one of the best in the country. However, backlogs still exist. Also on backlogs in Welsh courts, there is concern about magistrates courts in Wales. Civil and family justice is performing well. Wales has seen successful initiatives, such as the pathfinder pilot, which is transforming private family law proceedings in Wales by offering a less adversarial process, focused on early intervention, especially for domestic abuse cases. I have seen that at first hand in Newport and Cardiff. However, we must do more to continue to improve delivery. One recommendation of the Thomas commission was that justice data should be Wales-specific and more detailed, and that there should be disaggregated data, reflecting distinct Welsh needs. Such data is crucial to effective delivery in Wales. It is important to note that disaggregated, Wales-specific data is already collected and published. A comprehensive review of nearly 400 Welsh Government priority data requests found that 40% of the requested data had already been published, with clear signposting provided to aid navigation. Notwithstanding that, the Government recognise the importance of specific data in policy development and operational delivery, so last month, Lord Timpson, the Minister in the other place, wrote to the Welsh Government to set out areas where we will now collect additional, disaggregated data for Wales. I will happily keep the right hon. Lady updated on that. Over the past 18 months, the Ministry of Justice has worked collaboratively with Welsh Government officials and stakeholders, including Dr Robert Jones of the Wales Governance Centre, and has made significant steps forward in Welsh data collection and disaggregation. We have focused on improving transparency, accessibility and relevance of Welsh-specific justice data. We have developed and published a new Welsh-specific dataset, including the annual management information release on Welsh prisoner data, and a bespoke Welsh reoffending data release for the Equality and Social Justice Committee. Additional breakdowns, such as custody type by institution and deaths under probation supervision in approved premises, were published in the October 2025 offender management statistics quarterly release.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Criminal Justice System: Wales · Hansard source

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  We will always be evidence-led. The right hon. Lady mentioned that the issue is not political. We will always look at what the data is telling us, and I will happily work with her and other colleagues on that. We have also committed to publishing further data—for example, on homelessness by institution, and on the Welsh language. It is a severe concern to me that Welsh prisoners are not able to converse in their mother tongue, and it is important that we address that. We are committed to publishing that data when it is available. It is anticipated by the end of 2026. We are also supporting the development of a publicly available Welsh Government dashboard. We have facilitated data sharing agreements, including agreements on Welsh youth justice data. In addition, substantial volumes of data are now accessible via the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service and the Welsh Government-funded SAIL—secure anonymised information linkage—databank, and this will support evidence-based policy development. Officials will continue to enhance Welsh data provision when opportunities arise. We will promote awareness of existing datasets and maintain engagement with stakeholders to understand emerging priorities. I turn to the impact of criminal justice initiatives on devolved services, which I know is an area of interest for the right hon. Lady. In our manifesto, we committed to undertaking a strategic review of probation, which will also cover devolution, and we are working constructively with the Welsh Government on this—I want to reassure her on that point. That includes developing a memorandum of understanding on co-commissioning and local working partnerships. That is still in development and, again, I will happily bring her into that, to ensure that we get this right, and that we do not just get a replica of Manchester, but instead do bespoke work for Wales that is Wales-specific. However, the right hon. Lady will be aware that the criminal justice system faces acute and significant pressures, and we are taking action as a Government to remedy the situation. The Sentencing Bill and upcoming legislation to implement the recommendations of the independent review of the criminal courts are key components of that action, and we will need time to bed that in. It is important that we take time to get that right. Our priority is to ensure that the system is stabilised before we undertake any further review of the governance arrangements, but we will do so. We will continue to ensure that the impact of this work on devolved services is considered carefully, and we will continue to work with the Welsh Government and devolved authorities to ensure that the system works effectively and sustainably in Wales. We have already had a number of discussions with the Welsh Government about this work and the impact on devolved authorities, and my ministerial colleagues and I will continue to engage with Welsh Government Ministers on all justice issues to ensure that they can inform policy development and delivery, and reflect the distinct and specific needs of the people of Wales. To conclude, the justice system is, as we are all sadly aware, facing unprecedented challenges, particularly in the criminal justice space. The Government inherited a prison system on the verge of collapse, which would have left the courts unable to send offenders to prison and the police unable to arrest dangerous criminals. By working closely with our partners in Wales, we are delivering a system that is meeting the needs of Welsh users. The picture in Wales is positive, in the criminal, civil and family space, and we are striving to ensure that these partnerships continue to improve justice delivery in Wales. Again, I extend a hand to the right hon. Lady and colleagues across the political divide, and offer to work with them to ensure that we get this right, because this is not political; this is about serving the needs of the people of Wales. When we came into office, we spoke of the difference that a Labour Government working at both ends of the M4 would have for Wales. This is that delivery in action. Diolch yn fawr iawn. Question put and agreed to.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Criminal Justice System: Wales · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) for bringing this important debate to the House this evening. She will know that I am a proud Justice Minister, but I am also a very proud Welsh MP. I therefore recognise everything she said as a constituency MP. All my thoughts are with Gwenno’s family. I will happily meet Karen to answer her questions directly. I will ensure that the meeting happens. Gwenno is a prime example of exactly how the criminal justice system is not working. It is exactly why we set up the women's justice board. It is exactly why we need to close the gaps and ensure that women like Gwenno are given the support that they need, rather than necessarily a prison sentence. It is why we have taken forward work looking at recommendations on short sentences, which serve no one, and potentially create better criminals, rather than better citizens. It is why there needs to be better wraparound support, and better support services available for women like Gwenno. It is a mission of this Government and of the Justice Department to ensure that we do not fail women like Gwenno going forward. I also sincerely thank the right hon. Member for her continuing engagement on, and interest in, the justice system, not just in Wales but generally. She has been a tireless advocate. I welcome all engagement with her. It is not the first debate she has had on the matter, and I am sure that it will not be the last. She has tabled amendments to the Sentencing Bill, and has sought to change the probation landscape in Wales, which she also discussed. During a debate on the Sentencing Bill, she noted the impact that the Bill will have on probation in Wales; she mentioned it again this evening, as well as the work of the Thomas commission and the Brown report on the devolution of powers to Wales, which I have read closely. I know all too well about the interface between reserved and devolved services, as an MP representing a devolved constituency; she mentioned that jagged edge. She also noted the importance of using data to inform services and practices. This debate gives us a further opportunity to explore those issues in detail, and allows us to examine justice policy and the delivery landscape in Wales. I welcome that wholeheartedly. First, I would like to deal with the commissions and reports that have considered justice and devolution in Wales, and the jagged edge that we have sadly heard so much about this evening. As the right hon. Lady noted, a number of commissions have looked into the wider devolution of powers to Wales, as well as the devolution of justice. The Thomas commission recognised the complex landscape when it comes to justice in Wales. It examined the interface between reserved and devolved responsibilities, and the delivery of many of the support services provided by devolved authorities on justice-related issues—a matter that the right hon. Lady mentioned. Yes, these interfaces exist, but it is not necessarily true that they cause problems in the delivery of justice in Wales. The Ministry of Justice, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service all work together with the devolved authorities on a day-to-day basis to ensure that delivery meets the distinct needs of Wales. The Ministry of Justice engages with the Welsh Government through several structured mechanisms aimed at co-ordinating justice delivery. These include: a formal concordat between the MOJ and the Welsh Government, which establishes principles for co-operation; a memorandum of understanding on offender education; the Criminal Justice Board for Wales, which co-ordinates across criminal justice agencies and partners to oversee work on cross-cutting challenges in justice delivery for Wales; the Justice in Wales Strategy Group, which acts as the senior strategic-level interface on justice issues between the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Welsh Government on key areas of policy and reform; and the inter-ministerial group for justice, a cross-Government forum that enables formal and regular engagement on justice issues among the UK, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments, and which addresses matters of shared interest. The Minister with responsibility for sentencing, the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Jake Richards), met our devolved counterparts in the past week, and I have also recently met my counterpart in the Welsh Government to discuss cross-jurisdictional issues. We regularly meet and have collaborative conversations. This is in addition to the daily official-level engagement on a range of issues. As a result, I am pleased to inform the House that justice delivery in Wales is performing well. Prisons are, believe it or not, performing well. HMPPS in Wales has five public prisons: Cardiff, Swansea, Usk, Prescoed and Berwyn, and one private prison, Parc.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. It was an honour to meet him, victims and bereaved families who have been affected by this horrific situation. Our thoughts remain with those grieving families, who rightly expect their babies and the deceased to be treated with dignity and respect. That is the minimum that they deserve. We are committed to taking action. He might be aware that the Department of Health and Social Care today published its interim review into the Fuller inquiry. I look forward to reading that, and to working with him and others to ensure that the recommendations are followed.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I can confirm that we have had positive conversations with the Scottish Government about extending the provision to Scotland. This is a matter for them, but we are engaging in positive conversations, and they have shown willing in wanting to adopt the same model that we will be adopting to provide non-means-tested legal aid for all bereaved families when there has been state involvement in the death of their loved ones.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising this matter. I will, of course, be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and Micala, and I thank her for her tireless campaigning on this issue. I share the concerns about abuse in teenage relationships, and I am pleased to say that we are conducting a scoping review of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which will cover the age limit for victims, to ensure that it captures adolescent relationships. The upcoming violence against women and girls strategy will set out steps to tackle teenage relationship abuse. I look forward to meeting him and Micala.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right: I am a woman on a mission. I will meet her early in the new year, ahead of Report, to discuss her amendments and the Bill’s progress through the House.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is why we are determined to ensure that rape victims are treated with compassion and dignity throughout the entire criminal justice process. We are committed to implementing the Law Commission’s review on bad character evidence and to tackling those rape myths and stereotypes, and we are committed to our manifesto commitment of introducing independent legal advisers for adult rape victims to ensure that they get the support they desperately need.

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady may have missed the announcement that £550 million would be invested in victim support services, the biggest amount ever. I have met victim support services across England and Wales who have welcomed that announcement. The money will be transformational—it will change lives. However, victim support on its own is not enough, which is why we need to take every possible step to reform our criminal justice system, which this Government are doing.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Our work to halve violence against women and girls in a decade started the day we entered government. We have already announced a series of cross-Government measures to tackle these crimes, including launching our domestic abuse protection orders, which have protected over 1,000 victims of domestic abuse since last November. Our transformative cross-Government approach will be underpinned by a new strategy, which we will publish as soon as possible.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question. Making the online environment a safer place for women and girls is a priority for this Government. It is this Government who are outlawing depictions of strangulation in pornography. It is this Government who are taking action to tackle violence against women and girls in all places. The Online Safety Act 2023 placed a requirement on tech platforms to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, much of which disproportionately affects women and girls, including harassment and intimate image abuse. Ofcom recently published guidance outlining further steps that services can take to make platforms safer for women and girls, but we are also developing a wider strategy to tackle this issue further.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  I totally agree with the hon. Lady, and I commend Chelmsford city council’s work. If we are really going to halve the level of violence against women and girls over the course of a decade, it will not just be for Departments and Whitehall to tackle; it needs everyone across the country to take action. Local initiatives such as the one in Chelmsford do great work, and I encourage all local councils and local businesses to get involved to change the culture and really drive forward what we need to do to tackle this abuse.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right, and Refuge does brilliant work to support victims of tech-based abuse. I have been to its offices and seen its team working really hard on this issue. The Government are determined to have a cross-Government approach, and I am working very closely with the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to see how we can get to grips with the issue. We will be publishing our cross-Government VAWG strategy imminently and there will be a specific reference to tech abuse in that strategy.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  The grooming gangs scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history, with vulnerable young people being failed time and time again. The Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and I are determined to finally get victims and survivors the answers they need. It was this Prime Minister who brought the first ever major prosecution on the Asian grooming gangs, it was this Government who implemented the statutory inquiry recommendations, and it is this Government who have issued a national inquiry. We will get on with supporting victims and girls.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Tackling Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Shut It Down and organisations like it are a brilliant tool. Everyone should feel safe and valued in school. We want our schools to counter misogynistic views by teaching boys about respect, empathy and equality. We will support teachers on how to deliver the revised statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education, which strengthens consent on healthy relationships, with free resources available. We will be piloting a teacher training grant in 2026.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill (Fifth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I recognise that, and I will happily engage with the hon. Lady further to ensure that we have no gaps.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill (Fifth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I will speak to each of the clauses in turn. Clause 12 will introduce the first of two new statutory offences to replace the common law offence of misconduct in public office. In its 2020 report, the Law Commission recommended that the common law offence should be abolished and replaced with two new offences that broadly replicate the coverage of the common law offence. In acting on those recommendations, the Government do not intend to change significantly the type of conduct the criminal law will capture. Like the common law offence, the new offences are intended to capture only wrongdoing at the most serious level. The clause establishes the new offence of seriously improper acts, and is designed to capture the conduct previously caught by the concept of wilful misconduct under the common law offence. The seriously improper acts offence is committed when a person who holds public office uses that office with the intent to obtain a benefit for themselves or another person, or to cause detriment to someone else. They must know or ought to have known that any reasonable person would regard their act as seriously improper. The offence can capture a wide range of conduct. “Using” an office can include both acts and omissions. “Benefit” and “detriment” mean any benefit or detriment including, but not limited to, financial gain or loss, protection or enhancement of or damage to a person’s reputation, and benefits or detriments of a physical or sexual nature, whether temporary or permanent. When we talk about protection or enhancement of or damage to a person’s reputation, we intend to capture serious situations where someone uses their office in the way that we associate with the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster: the manipulation of evidence in order to protect the reputation of a person, including an organisation, or the spreading of allegations about other people, designed to damage their reputation. The clause is about not the usual back and forth of everyday politics, but severe abuses of power that undermine the very basis of public service. An act is seriously improper if a reasonable person would consider it so. There is a list of factors that the jury must consider to make that determination, including the extent to which the act involved an intention to mislead or be dishonest by withholding, covering up or misusing information. A defence is available if the person can show that they had a reasonable excuse for their action—for example, a public office holder has to disregard one fraudulent benefits claim to uncover a more serious, larger scale benefits fraud. The offence is indictable and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. That puts it on par with similar statutory offences, such as bribery and fraud. The consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions will be required to bring a prosecution under the offence. That is to safeguard against the risk of spurious claims against public officials, including politicians. We have already heard examples of that. It will ensure that only cases that are serious in nature and justify criminalisation are prosecuted. It does not require the personal consent of the director—consent can be delegated—so it should not cause any undue administrative burden. The clause will ensure that serious misconduct and corrupt behaviour by those in public office will continue to result in criminal sanctions, and that those who abuse positions of public trust are held to account for their actions. I commend the clause to the Committee. Clause 13 establishes the new offence of breach of duty to prevent death or serious injury. It is designed to capture the conduct previously caught by the concept of wilful neglect of duty under the common law offence. The new offence is committed when a person who holds public office either causes or creates significant risk of causing someone else to suffer critical harm, in breach of a duty to prevent other people from suffering such harm. They must know that they are under such a duty, and their act must fall far below what could reasonably have been expected of them in the circumstances. The offence requires that the person be under a duty to prevent critical harm that arises by virtue of the public office that they hold. That means that the offence can be committed only by public office holders whose roles inherently involve a duty to prevent critical harm—for example, service personnel, firefighters and the police. It does not apply to public office holders whose roles do not put them under a duty to protect the public from critical harm. The offence is made out only if the public official knows or ought to know that they are subject to that duty. The breach of duty must cause either critical harm or a significant risk of that harm materialising. It will not capture cases where a negligible or insignificant risk of harm is caused. The breach of duty must also have been intentional or reckless. These are both very high criminal thresholds. To act recklessly means to proceed in full awareness of the potential outcome and in circumstances where it is unreasonable to take the risk. Only the most serious breaches of duty are captured by the offence. The requirement that the act must fall far below the standard that could reasonably be expected of the person in the circumstances ensures that minor or honest mistakes and legitimate but risky operational decisions made in challenging circumstances will not be captured. For example, a law enforcement officer having to decide in the moment whether to take a particular risky operational decision would be caught by the offence only if they intentionally recklessly breach the duty, their act falls far below the standards reasonably expected of them in those circumstances, and they have no reasonable excuse for their actions. The offence will be triable on indictment only and will carry a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment. That is commensurate with other offences where a failure of duty leads to serious or critical consequences, such as gross negligence manslaughter. As with the offence in clause 12, the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions will be required to bring a prosecution under the offence in clause 13. That is to guard against the risk of spurious claims being made against public officials in this position and to ensure that only the most serious cases are prosecuted. Clause 14 clarifies the territorial application of the new offences in clauses 12 and 13. It makes clear that a public office holder can commit the seriously improper acts or breach of duty offences by their actions either within England and Wales, or in other UK territories such as Scotland or Northern Ireland. The offences in clauses 12 and 13 may also be committed by acts done outside the United Kingdom provided that, at the time of the act, the public office holder is either a UK national or habitually resident in England and Wales. The clause ensures conduct like this could be caught by the new offences.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill (Fifth sitting) · Hansard source

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  indicated assent.