Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is his policy to invest all additional revenue from court and tribunal fees into the Courts and Tribunals Service to help tackle the civil case backlog.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Additional income raised from court and tribunal fees will make a significant contribution to vital work taking place across the Department to facilitate an effective and efficient justice system. This includes our continuous efforts to improve HMCTS service performance and reduce court backlogs.
Fees generated £727 million in income for the Ministry of Justice in 2022/23 out of the total c.£2.3 billion that it cost to run HMCTS. The recent round of fee uplifts is expected to raise another £30 million – £37 million a year in additional income.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates court hearings have been delayed or could not go ahead due to a (a) failure to deliver a prisoner and (b) delay in bringing a prisoner to court by (i) SERCO and (ii) other providers of escort services since 2017, by court.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide the information requested without detailed examination of individual records for more than 220 courts, across two Prisoner Escort and Custody Services contract generations (Generation 3, 2011 – 2020, and Generation 4, 2020 – 2030), and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions prisoners were delivered late to (a) a magistrates’ court hearing and (b) a Crown Court hearing, by each court, since 2017.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It is not possible to provide the information requested without detailed examination of individual records for more than 220 courts, across two Prisoner Escort and Custody Services contract generations (Generation 3, 2011 – 2020, and Generation 4, 2020 – 2030), and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the official injury claim small claims portal.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Official Injury Claim (OIC) service is a free, easy-to-use online system owned and operated by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. OIC was built to be usable and accessible including to those with access needs or who prefer or require assistive or adaptive technologies.
On-screen guidance leads both represented and unrepresented claimants through the claims process, supported by an online help-hub and additional written guidance. There is also a dedicated telephone Portal Support Centre who can assist claimants who need to make a paper-based claim. The OIC also provides translation services in multiple foreign languages.
Ministry of Justice officials continue to work with MIB to increase awareness and improve the visibility of the OIC through identifying and implementing appropriate web optimisation. Regularly updated useful information on making a claim via the OIC is also available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 4 of Practice Direction 1A - Participation of Vulnerable Parties or Witnesses, how many civil cases involve each of the vulnerability factors listed.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Court hearings have been delayed due to a (a) failure to deliver a prisoner and (b) a delay in bringing a prisoner to a court by (i) Serco and (ii) other providers of escort services.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of contractual delays at the Crown Court attributable to the two PECS suppliers, in each month from September 2023 to February 2024, is shown in the table below.
Contractual delays include both failure to deliver a prisoner, and delay in bringing a prisoner to court. In contractual terms, a delay occurs when a prisoner who is at that time the responsibility of a PECS supplier, is not available in the courtroom at the required time so that courtroom business is delayed by 15 minutes or more. Whenever a delay occurs, its cause is investigated by the PECS Management Team in His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service. During the period for which data have been provided, there were no instances of failure to deliver a prisoner: all recorded instances are attributable to delay in bringing a prisoner to court.
PECS contractual delays to Crown Court hearings, September 2023 to February 2024
Serco | Total moves to Crown Court | Number of contractual delays | Performance % |
Sep 2023 | 4872 | 5 | 99.90 |
Oct 2023 | 4651 | 8 | 99.83 |
Nov 2023 | 5408 | 17 | 99.69 |
Dec 2023 | 3803 | 20 | 99.48 |
Jan 2024 | 5136 | 14 | 99.73 |
Feb 2024 | 4733 | 7 | 99.86 |
GEOAmey | Total moves to Crown Court | Number of contractual delays | Performance % |
Sep 2023 | 4904 | 2 | 99.96 |
Oct 2023 | 5169 | 3 | 99.95 |
Nov 2023 | 5559 | 2 | 99.97 |
Dec 2023 | 4419 | 1 | 99.99 |
Jan 2024 | 5586 | 1 | 99.99 |
Feb 2024 | 5223 | 1 | 99.99 |
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the document entitled Qualified legal representative appointed by the Court: Statutory guidance, published in July 2022, how many qualified legal representatives have been registered in (a) family and (b) other civil cases since the publication of that guidance.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.
As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.
Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.
We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many cases a qualified legal representative was (a) required and (b) available.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.
As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.
Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.
We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor the requirement for qualified legal representatives to undergo vulnerable witness training within six months of registering.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.
As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.
Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.
We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many qualified legal representatives had completed vulnerable witness training when they registered for the scheme.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Qualified Legal Representative (QLR) scheme was introduced in July 2022, following the Government’s Domestic Abuse Act (2021) which prohibited unrepresented perpetrators or alleged perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims or alleged victims in family and civil proceedings, and vice versa. The prohibition ensures that vulnerable victims and witnesses are not traumatised by being cross-examined directly by their alleged perpetrator.
As of 20 March 2024, there are currently 366 QLRs registered to undertake work in the family courts and 78 QLRs registered to undertake work in the civil courts. We do not hold central data on total registrations since the publication of the statutory guidance.
Circumstances under which a QLR is required vary, for example, depending on whether parties have their own representation, and decisions on which cases require QLRs are taken by the courts. We do not collect data centrally on how many cases have required a QLR, or the number of QLRs that have presented cases under the scheme.
We do not hold central data on how many QLRs have completed training, which they are able to access from a range of external providers. The Government encourages legal professionals to take up this important work to assist in both the family and civil courts, and to complete the required training as early as practicable.