Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the transition from court-based oral hearings to remote telephone and paper hearings for social security appeals.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is working hard to keep our justice system functioning during this unprecedented public health emergency. We are focusing on priority cases, changing working practices and introducing new procedures to minimise risks to the judiciary, staff and all those who use our courts and tribunals.
This has included, in line with government guidance, replacing face to face hearings in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) with telephone hearings and the use of other remote hearing technology to facilitate as many hearings as possible being held remotely. All parties to the hearings are being contacted directly to confirm new hearing arrangements.
In addition to holding remote hearings in all regions, appeals may also be decided by judges sitting alone in chambers, using the evidence before them in the case papers.
During the coronavirus outbreak HMCTS is publishing additional management information used for understanding the impact on workload volumes and activity across the court and tribunal system, which includes SSCS workload and hearings. The latest information, published on 11 June, is available using the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-april-2020.
The latest advice and guidance from the government and judiciary in relation to tribunal hearings during the coronavirus pandemic is updated regularly and can be viewed using the following links:
www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-courts-and-tribunals-planning-and-preparation and
www.judiciary.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-and-guidance.