Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many barristers and solicitors (1) are available to sit as Crown court recorders in England and Wales, and (2) sat as Crown court recorders in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The table below sets out the data held per month for the number of Recorders who hold a live Crime ticket (weekly data is not available) over the 12 months to June 2025, which is the latest month for which the data is available. It also sets out the number of Recorders who sat for at least 1 day in the Crown Court during that same month.

It should be noted that many Recorders will hold multiple tickets, so the Recorders listed here who have not sat in the Crown Court may have been sitting in Family or Civil instead. In addition, Recorders may have other professional obligations which mean that they are not available to sit in a particular month.

The Deputy Prime Minister recently announced an additional 1,250 sitting days in the Crown Court this year, which means the Crown Court will be able to sit for 111,250 days this year, 5,000 more than the days initially allocated last year. This enables the Crown Court to sit more days this year than ever before.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many barristers and solicitors (1) are available to sit as deputy district judges (magistrates’ courts) in England and Wales, and (2) sat as deputy district judges (magistrates’ courts) in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As at 1 April 2025 (the most recent month for which there are published statistics), there were 88 Deputy District Judges (Magistrates Court) where this was their primary appointment. Whilst we do collect data on Deputy District Judge sittings in the Magistrates’ Court, the data held centrally does not allow us robustly to identify how many of the 88 primary appointment Deputy District Judges sat each week or month.

Decisions as to when to list cases before Deputy District Judges rather than a panel of lay magistrates are made by the judiciary.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government which Crown courts in England and Wales have court rooms that are (1) usable but unused, and (2) unusable because of their state of repair or a lack of judges or court staff, in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many court rooms in the Crown courts in England and Wales have not been used in each week of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the cost is of keeping each court room in the Crown courts of England and Wales (1) open and in use 5 days a week; and (2) closed for all or any part of the working week.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

HMCTS does not hold the information requested. Generally, the efficient use of the court estate is vital to the efficient administration of criminal justice. The overall cost and utilisation of court rooms is kept under regular review and the Government has increased capital investment in repair and maintenance of the courts and tribunals estate by some £28.5 million in this financial year to ensure more court rooms are kept in use.