Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Henry Smith and Mike Freer

Tuesday 20th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mike Freer)]

The £55 claim issue fee is modest, and this is completely different from the previous fee scheme, so I simply do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation. I am quite happy to defend that small, reasonable fee as necessary to help defray the costs of our system.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

T6.   What percentage of the backlog in Crown court cases is due to foreign national offenders, and what has been done to reduce that?