Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to apply trial by a single judge sitting alone retrospectively to defendants who have already entered a plea and elected trial by jury.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is focused on bringing down the backlog as soon as possible. Once the criminal court reforms come into force, they will apply to existing cases, provided the trial has not yet commenced. This will mean that cases which are past the point of initial mode of trial determination, but have not yet commenced trial, will be able to be changed from jury trial to trial by judge alone (either under the Crown Court Bench Division or on the grounds of technical complexity or length). Cases which are in the Crown Court will be retained within that jurisdiction.
Cases already part-way through a jury trial will proceed with a jury trial. Similarly, cases already assigned to one court jurisdiction (magistrates’ court or Crown Court) will not be reallocated to another jurisdiction.
The reason for taking this approach is so that the time savings and benefits of the reforms can be felt as soon as possible. Allowing pending cases to be tried by judge alone will enable us to start tackling the open caseload as soon as the new legislation is enacted, delivering swifter justice for victims without compromising defendants’ rights or fairness. It will also avoid two different procedures running in parallel in the Crown Court as a result of arbitrary cut-off dates. The application of procedural changes to existing cases is consistent with longstanding legal practice.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current average number of Crown court courtrooms that are not sitting in a month is; and what steps he is taking to address the issue of Crown Courts not sitting.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 6 January to question 100312.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has conducted an assessment of Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court sitting time lost as a result of the late production or non-production of defendants in custody.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on the number of trials declared ineffective due to the non-production of defendants can be found here: Trial effectiveness at the Criminal Courts tool.
In the most recent reported quarter (July to September 2025) – non-production of defendants accounted for less than 2% of ineffective trials.
Securing data on the impact that late production or non-production of defendants has had on sitting time would come at a disproportionate cost, due to the time required to process this information.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown Court courtrooms are not sitting on average in each month, and what steps he is taking to address the issue of Crown Courts not sitting.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.
Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.
In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days - the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.
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.
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.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that available Crown Court courtrooms are utilised on every sitting day.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.
Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.
In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days - the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.
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.
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.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to apply trial by a single judge sitting alone retrospectively to defendants who have already entered a plea and elected trial by jury.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers will introduce detailed proposals to Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish the modelling and impact assessment relating to proposals to limit the use of jury trials.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
An impact assessment will accompany our legislative measures, as is usual practice.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of serving magistrates are under the age of 40.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The breakdown of magistrates in post by age bands is provided in table 3.6 of the annual official Diversity of the Judiciary statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/diversity-of-the-judiciary-2025-statistics).
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the duration of hearings required to determine whether an offence is likely to attract a custodial sentence of three years or more.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Criminal cases will continue to start in the magistrates’ court and will be sent to the Crown Court by magistrates where the seriousness or complexity of the case means it is more suitable for trial on indictment.
Post reforms, to determine whether a triable either-way case is eligible for trial in the Crown Court Bench Division, a Crown Court judge will assess whether the case is likely to attract a custodial sentence of three years or less. The process for allocations in the Crown Court will be similar to the existing approach used in the magistrates’ courts. We have full confidence in our judiciary to apply the Sentencing Guidelines appropriately when deciding the mode of trial. Eligibility for the Crown Court Bench Division will be assessed at the first opportunity a defendant has to enter a plea – normally the plea and trial preparation hearing where the judge will consider mode of trial among other case management factors to ensure the case is ready for trial.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which (a) court and (b) judicial body will determine whether an offence is likely to attract a custodial sentence of three years or more for the purposes of allocating the mode of trial.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Criminal cases will continue to start in the magistrates’ court and will be sent to the Crown Court by magistrates where the seriousness or complexity of the case means it is more suitable for trial on indictment.
Post reforms, to determine whether a triable either-way case is eligible for trial in the Crown Court Bench Division, a Crown Court judge will assess whether the case is likely to attract a custodial sentence of three years or less. The process for allocations in the Crown Court will be similar to the existing approach used in the magistrates’ courts. We have full confidence in our judiciary to apply the Sentencing Guidelines appropriately when deciding the mode of trial. Eligibility for the Crown Court Bench Division will be assessed at the first opportunity a defendant has to enter a plea – normally the plea and trial preparation hearing where the judge will consider mode of trial among other case management factors to ensure the case is ready for trial.