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1719984

registered interest
date	22/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reform the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) to enable magistrates to properly consider each case before them and to minimise any risk of miscarriages of justice; and whether they have implemented, or plan to implement, any of the twelve recommendations to improve the operation, transparency and fairness of the SJP contained within the Magistrates’ Association position statement, published on 26 March.
tabling member printed	The Marquess of Lothian
uin	HL4862
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2024 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 24/05/2024 13:31:02 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
tabling member	259 label Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian

1719251

registered interest
date	20/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sitting days each (a) court and (b) tribunal has been allocated in the 2024-25 financial year.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	27052
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>Sitting days in courts and tribunals are subject to formal agreement between the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals via an annual process. This process has not yet concluded for the financial year 2024/25 and therefore sitting day allocations, and the associated budget information, is not yet available.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 27053 question first answered 23/05/2024 12:42:59 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1719252

registered interest
date	20/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been allocated to each (a) court and (b) tribunal in HM Courts and Tribunals Service budget for the financial year 2024-25.
tabling member constituency	Brentford and Isleworth
tabling member printed	Ruth Cadbury
uin	27053
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2024 answer text <p>Sitting days in courts and tribunals are subject to formal agreement between the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals via an annual process. This process has not yet concluded for the financial year 2024/25 and therefore sitting day allocations, and the associated budget information, is not yet available.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer grouped question UIN 27052 question first answered 23/05/2024 12:42:59 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	4389 label Biography information for Ruth Cadbury

1716698

registered interest
date	08/05/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps his Department is taking to reduce delays in judicial processes.
tabling member constituency	Broadland
tabling member printed	Jerome Mayhew
uin	902791
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2024 answer text <p>We remain committed to tackling the outstanding caseloads across our courts and tribunals and have introduced a range of measures to achieve this aim.</p><p>While the listing of cases is an independent judicial function, we have consistently invested in judicial recruitment to ensure we have the capacity to deliver effective judicial processes. Since 2018, we have recruited around 1,000 judges and tribunal members annually, across all jurisdictions.</p><p> </p><p>Criminal courts <br>Over 90% of all criminal cases are heard at the magistrates’ courts, where we heard 100,000 cases a month on average across 2023. While the outstanding caseload in the magistrates’ courts has slightly increased in recent months due to an increase in the number of cases coming to court, the caseload remains well below its pandemic peak and stood at 370,700 at the end of December 2023, and cases continue to be progressed quickly.</p><p>To aid our efforts in the magistrates’ courts, we invested £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of more magistrates. We aim to recruit 2,000 new and diverse magistrates this year, and similar numbers for each of the next couple of years.</p><p>At the Crown Court, we remain committed to reducing the outstanding caseload. We delivered 107,700 sitting days in the most recent financial year (FY23/24) and judges have worked tirelessly to complete more cases. The latest data shows cases progressed through the Crown Court more quickly throughout 2023, with the median time from receipt to completion reducing from 167 days in the first quarter of 2023, to 125 days in the last quarter.</p><p>We are also investing more in our criminal courts. In August 2023, we announced we are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of our court buildings, up to March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>Family Court <br>In March 2024 the Family Justice Board agreed a new set of priorities for the family justice system, with a clear focus on closing the longest running cases and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluding within the 26-week statutory timeline.</p><p>We announced in the Spring Budget an additional £55 million to improve productivity, support earlier resolution of family disputes and reduce the number of cases coming to court. This includes creating a digital advice tool for separating couples, piloting early legal advice and supporting the expansion of the private law Pathfinder model. The Department for Education are investing an extra £10 million to deliver new initiatives to address the longest delays in public law.</p><p>We have provided the flexibility for judges to sit virtually across regional boundaries, so that judges can be deployed where they are needed most, to reduce the caseload and waiting times.</p><p>We are also investing up to £23.6 million in the family mediation voucher scheme, which we intend will allow for its continuation up to March 2025. As of May 2024, over 28,600 families have successfully used the scheme to attempt to resolve their private law disputes outside of court.</p><p> </p><p>Civil courts</p><p>With regards to civil cases, we are taking action to ensure those that do need to go to trial are dealt with quickly. We have a significant volume of judicial recruitment underway for District and Deputy District Judges, are digitising court processes and holding more remote hearings, and are increasing the use of mediation.</p><p>The requirement for small claims in the county court to attend a mediation session with the Small Claims Mediation Service will start this spring and is expected to help parties resolve their dispute swiftly and consensually without the need for a judicial hearing.</p><p>The HMCTS Reform Program has introduced technology that delivers simplified and transformed digital ways of working for civil court users and judges such as the online money claims process and the damages claims service, offering accessible and responsive services.</p><p> </p><p>Tribunals <br>With regards to the tribunals, we continue to work with the Department for Business and Trade on further measures to address caseloads in the Employment Tribunal, where the deployment of legal officers, recruitment of additional judges and a new electronic case management system have helped the Tribunal to manage its caseload which remains below its pandemic peak.</p><p>We have rolled out the HMCTS digital reform programme in the Immigration and Asylum and Social Entitlement chambers so that anyone challenging an immigration or welfare benefits decision can lodge their appeal, track progress and receive the results all online.</p><p>HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Gareth Bacon question first answered 14/05/2024 13:46:27 answering member 4798 label Biography information for Gareth Bacon
tabling member	4739 label Biography information for Jerome Mayhew

1696474

registered interest
date	15/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2024 to Question 17822 on Administration of Justice, if he will publish the protected characteristic data for single justice procedure cases in 2023.
tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
tabling member printed	Wayne David
uin	18867
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2024 answer text <p>Data on the protected characteristics of SJP users, under the descriptor of “online plea for the Single Justice Service”, can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-protected-characteristics-questionnaire-2023/hmcts-protected-characteristics-questionnaire-data-on-users-of-reformed-services" target="_blank">HMCTS Protected Characteristics Questionnaire - Data on Users of Reformed Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>The published data covers SJP cases for May 2023 to July 2023 inclusive. The scope of this data collection is limited to cases dealt with via the Common Platform, which represents around 32% of SJP cases over this time period.</p><p>An updated view of the protected characteristics questionnaire is likely to be published in Autumn 2024.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 20/03/2024 17:11:57 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David

1695074

registered interest
date	11/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of cases under the single justice procedure were prosecuted in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
tabling member printed	Wayne David
uin	17821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2024 answer text <p>The number of defendants dealt with via Single Justice Procedure (SJP) notifications at the magistrates’ courts is published as part of the National Statistics series ‘Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly’. Additionally, this series also provides the total number of defendants dealt with in the magistrates’ court, these can be used to calculate the proportion of SJPs in the magistrates’ caseload.</p><p>The latest published data is available to September 2023 and can be found in Tables T1 &amp; T2 which are accessible by the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023" target="_blank">Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 14/03/2024 17:06:55 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David

1695075

registered interest
date	11/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Equality Act 2010 on legal cases brought forward via the single justice procedure.
tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
tabling member printed	Wayne David
uin	17822
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2024 answer text <p>The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) was introduced under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Prior to the introduction of the procedure, in accordance with the Equalities Act 2010, an equality impact assessment was undertaken in relation to SJP. This concluded that on the basis of the available evidence, the planned change in summary justice would not lead to any positive or negative impact on people with protected characteristics.</p><p> </p><p>HMCTS committed to the Justice Select Committee to collect protected characteristic data in all reform services. This includes protected characteristic data for SJP, which has been monitored since 2023.</p><p> </p><p>The decision to prosecute under SJP is a decision for the prosecutor and not the Government.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 14/03/2024 17:07:37 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David

1695076

registered interest
date	11/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the average number of single justice procedure cases magistrates presided over per day in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
tabling member printed	Wayne David
uin	17823
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2024 answer text <p>There were 251 distinct days in which Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases were heard in a magistrates’ court between October 2022 and September 2023.</p><p>The latest published data on completed SJP cases is available to September 2023 and can be found in Table T1 which is accessible at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023" target="_blank">Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).</a></p><p>Based on this information, the average number of SJP cases completed per working day is 3,151. This excludes weekends and the 9 public holidays.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 14/03/2024 17:08:22 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David

1693208

registered interest
date	04/03/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of the introduction of unique identifiers for people in the justice system.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff West
tabling member printed	Kevin Brennan
uin	16620
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2024 answer text <p>We have not made a recent assessment of the impact of introducing unique identifiers for people in the justice system. <br> <br>However, we have started work to create a single 'Core Person record’ for use across HMPPS. This will begin to remove the multiple records we hold for those in our care, and reduce the amount of manual data matching required. Additionally, our award-winning probabilistic matching tool ‘splink’, has underpinned the linking of data across the justice system, including assessing the substance misuse pathways between justice and health, electronic monitoring curfew and probation case management, which has allowed us to identify individuals as they interact with our interventions and services. This has significantly overcome challenges of not having a unique identifier and has supported policy makers and operational staff in their work to reduce offending and strengthen public protection.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 07/03/2024 12:58:27 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1400 label Biography information for Kevin Brennan

1691360

registered interest
date	23/02/2024
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Administration of Justice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to assess the potential vulnerability of people prosecuted under the single justice procedure.
tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
tabling member printed	Wayne David
uin	15409
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2024 answer text <p>The Government does not intervene in individual cases, including Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases, which are a matter for the independent judiciary.</p><p> </p><p>SJP is used by a number of approved prosecutors. It is a more proportionate way of dealing with straightforward, uncontested, summary-only non-imprisonable offences. The prosecuting body cannot choose this route for any case which falls outside of these criteria. SJP also cannot be used in cases where a defendant pleads not guilty.</p><p> </p><p>Where a guilty plea is submitted, defendants are able to enter mitigating circumstances, if they wish, alongside their guilty plea, to be considered by the magistrate dealing with their case. Cases where defendants have not responded to a notification that they are being prosecuted may also be dealt with under the SJP.</p><p>For prosecutors, guilty pleas and any entered mitigation are available on the system for them to review as soon as the plea is received online, or as soon as scanned into the system if received by post, however, prosecutors are not required to view this.</p><p> </p><p>Often the defendants’ circumstances and any potential vulnerability are not known until they provide their mitigation. Any mitigation provided under SJP is considered by the magistrate in the same way that it would be in open court. Although prosecutors decide whether to offer defendants the option of having their case dealt with under the SJP, magistrates may refer a case to open court if they think that would be more appropriate rather than continuing under the SJP.</p><p> </p><p>The mitigation provided sometimes suggests that the prosecution may not be in the public interest; a magistrate can then adjourn the case and ask the prosecution to review the mitigation. Alternatively, the magistrate can reduce the penalty imposed and even deal with the case by way of a conditional or absolute discharge. Guidance for magistrates on mitigating factors is provided in the sentencing guidelines.</p><p> </p><p>Support channels are also available to defendants who require clarification of information and processes ranging from web chat or telephone assistance to more intensive face-to-face assistance.</p><p> </p><p>The Government keeps all policies under review and listens to feedback from stakeholders on how they are working.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 28/02/2024 16:55:39 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David