Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the process for (a) selecting and (b) prioritising cases from the daily court lists to ensure that cases involving people charged with breaching bail conditions in violent domestic abuse cases are (i) heard within the required legal timeframes and (ii) not released due to court scheduling delays.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Listing and case management decisions are made by the judiciary in collaboration with court listing officers, who prioritise cases involving vulnerable witnesses. The judiciary prioritise cases in line with the Criminal Practice Directions which set out the key principles for managing court lists, available at: Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 and Criminal Practice Directions 2023 - GOV.UK. Cases involving defendants held in custody overnight, including those accused of breaching bail conditions, are a priority. To support this, HMCTS has introduced measures such as a national forum for listing officers to share best practice.
In December 2024, the Government commissioned the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to propose reform to improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swift justice for victims. Work on Part 2 of the review will consider how the end-to-end process in the criminal courts could be improved to maximise efficiency and ensure public protection in the sorts of cases highlighed in the question. This work is underway and we expect it to be finalised later this year.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with HM Courts and Tribunals Service on addressing the backlog of criminal cases in Wiltshire.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The outstanding caseload in the criminal courts remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. Ministers meet regularly with the judiciary and HMCTS to discuss shared priorities, including the criminal courts caseload.
For this financial year (25/26), this Government is funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 110,000 sitting days this year, 4,000 higher than the last Government funded. We also funded 108,500 sitting days in the Crown Court in the last financial year - the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16). We continue to build capacity in magistrates’ courts, with 14,636 magistrates in post as of April 2025 across England and Wales. This year alone, we are uplifting our programme to bring in 2,000 new and diverse magistrates over the next 12 months and will continue to recruit at high levels in future years – ensuring our benches reflect the communities they serve. We also continue to recruit high levels of legal advisers, securing resilience for years to come.
However, the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days can achieve.
This is why the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform that will improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swifter justice for victims. The first part of the Review now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response in the autumn.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of staff shortages in His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service on delays to criminal trials in Wiltshire.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Staffing allocations are in line with current workload across the courts in Wiltshire, although recruitment can be an issue, particularly in Swindon where the competition in the job market is high. That said, administrative staff at both the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts in Wiltshire are at or near compliment. A shortfall in legal advisers in the magistrates’ courts in Wiltshire has had an impact on trial timeliness. To mitigate the impact of reduced sittings, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has implemented a detailed plan to address the position, and a rolling programme to recruit trainee legal advisers to support magistrates’ court capacity is part of this. There is currently legal adviser capacity to sit 54 crime courts per week and this is expected to rise in line with the planning, stabilising at 65 courts per week in 12-months time. In addition, the measures implemented to address the situation will see a dedicated trial blitz in late 2025 and which is supported by inter-agency collaboration.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of court capacity in Wiltshire to meet expected caseloads in the next five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government inherited record and rising courts backlog. In the criminal courts jurisdiction, we have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days across England and Wales this financial year to deliver swifter justice for victims, 4,000 more than in 24/25 under the previous Government. However, current national system performance and projected demand in coming years suggest the scale of the challenge is beyond what increasing sitting days can achieve. This is why the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform that will improve timeliness in the courts and deliver swifter justice for victims. The first part of the Review now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response in the autumn.
In Wiltshire, current Crown Court performance compares favourably with other centres. Between June 2024 and June 2025, new case receipts declined by 3%; and the outstanding caseload reduced by 18%, indicating that we do have the capacity to meet current demand in the Crown court.
In the magistrates’ courts, our open caseloads rose steadily last year, demonstrating that the challenge we face is across the criminal courts structure, not solely in the Crown Court. We continue to recruit high levels of magistrates and legal advisers to secure resilience in the magistrates’ court for years to come.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the proposals in Law Commission’s report entitled Modernising Wills Law, published on 15 May 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has welcomed the Law Commission’s comprehensive report on the law of making a will and will be giving the report careful consideration.
This is the first major review of the law on making wills since the Wills Act 1837, and the reforms proposed by the Law Commission are significant and wide ranging. They deserve detailed consideration. The Government recognises that the current law is outdated, and we must embrace change, but the guiding principle in doing so will be to ensure that reform does not compromise existing freedoms or protecting the elderly and vulnerable in society from undue influence.
The Government will make further announcements in due course, once it has given the report the detailed consideration it deserves.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of early release schemes on the safety of domestic abuse survivors in Wiltshire.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who (a) have been convicted of offences related to domestic abuse in Wiltshire and (b) may be eligible for early release; and what steps her Department is taking to safeguard (i) victims and (ii) victims' families when domestic abusers are released early.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance with (a) licence conditions and (b) restraining orders for early-released offenders in Wiltshire; and what steps she takes to respond to breaches.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
Eligibility under SDS40 is determined by law and we exempted a number of offences from the measure. Unlike the previous Government’s ECSL scheme, we excluded certain offences connected to domestic abuse. SDS40 offence exclusions include specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation. Our exclusions send a very clear message about how seriously domestic abuse is taken by this Government, which was elected on a landmark pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. Tackling domestic abuse is a core part of this mission.
However, there is no one offence for domestic abuse, meaning it was not possible to exempt all domestic abusers.
To safeguard victims and their families, SDS40 was introduced with an eight-week implementation period, clear offence-based exclusions, and extensive coordination across the Criminal Justice System. Offenders released under SDS40 are subject to strict licence conditions and close supervision by probation services. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody. We will also recruit a further 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 to ensure probation has the right resource to supervise high risk offenders and meet the growing demands of our justice system.
We have published SDS40 release data as part of the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tribunal appeals were lodged against decisions made by Wiltshire Council relating to Education, Health and Care Plans in each of the last five years; and in how many cases the appeal was upheld.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Information about appeal outcomes to SEND is published at Tribunals statistics quarterly: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK, but is not broken down to the detail requested.
The data requested, academic years September to August, are set out in the table below:
Wiltshire Council | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Number of appeals lodged relating to EHCP | 20 | 40 | 66 | 69 | 46 |
Number of appeals upheld1 | 19 | 39 | 64 | 67 | 45 |
(1) Is the total of cases where the appellant wins the majority of the appeal (i.e. the appellant may be successful in 2 out of the 3 sections they appeal against). It does not include those cases which were withdrawn or conceded before the hearing as the request was for the numbers upheld.
The information provided has been extracted from local management information.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of rape trial waiting times on people who have made allegations of rape.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Rape is an abhorrent crime, and its victims are some of the most vulnerable in the criminal justice system. Despite the judiciary prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, rape victims can wait disproportionately longer the victims of other cases for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts and will work with the judiciary to find the best way to deliver this nationally.
In addition, we are introducing specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force and will be rolling out free, independent legal advocates for victims of adult rape. The legal advocates will provide legal advice to victims on disclosure requests and potential appeals, reducing the number of those dropping out of the system.