Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to (a) remove the cap on the number of days courts can sit, (b) help ensure prisoners are transported to court on time, (c) hold discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service on the removal of cases from the backlog, (d) help support the recruitment of more public sector barristers and (e) help ensure that court buildings are fit for purpose.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a record and rising open caseload of nearly 80,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard and too many victims waiting years for justice.
In the Crown Court for this financial year (2025/26), we are funding 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. The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2026-27, 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. We will provide Parliament with an update on the sitting day allocations in the usual way at the conclusion of the Concordat process.
Prisoners should be produced on time and we are committed to making improvements where we can. Prisoner transport delivery is regularly reviewed and a significant number of contract changes have been made already to adapt to the changing operational requirement. But even if every prison van ran like clockwork tomorrow, we would still be left with a backlog edging towards 100,000 cases. Prisoner transport delays are a symptom of a stretched system, not a cure for it.
There is no quick fix to the criminal courts crisis, and no single lever that can be pulled. It is vital that all system partners work together to deliver swifter justice for victims. We continue to talk to system partners, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), to consider options, including those in Sir Brian Leveson’s Part I report on criminal court reform. In June 2025, the Chancellor announced a landmark increase of £96 million (RDELex) in additional funding for the CPS over the spending review period 2026-2029. This will help CPS protect victims by tackling the backlog, speeding up justice, and delivering a justice system that services victims.
We are investing up to an additional £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We are also taking forward Sir Brian’s recommendation to match-fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages, with a particular focus on opening a career at the criminal Bar to even more young people from across society.
This Government has also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing £148.5 million in court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous Government funded last financial year.
But investment alone is not enough – that is why this Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister responded to the first part of that review and set out why structural court reform is necessary, alongside investment and modernisation.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners has Serco failed to transport from (a) magistrates courts and (b) crown courts to prisons across the south of England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We have interpreted question 90429 to relate purely to individuals with a custodial sentence and not all convicted of an offence. In the last 5 years, there have been no failures by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) suppliers to return or take an individual to a prison following an order to do so from a Magistrates or Crown Court.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convicted criminals were not transported from Newton Abbott magistrates court to prison in the last five years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We have interpreted question 90429 to relate purely to individuals with a custodial sentence and not all convicted of an offence. In the last 5 years, there have been no failures by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) suppliers to return or take an individual to a prison following an order to do so from a Magistrates or Crown Court.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were not transported from (a) magistrates courts and (b) crown courts to prison in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We have interpreted question 90429 to relate purely to individuals with a custodial sentence and not all convicted of an offence. In the last 5 years, there have been no failures by Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) suppliers to return or take an individual to a prison following an order to do so from a Magistrates or Crown Court.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants were (a) prosecuted and (b) found guilty of offences under each relevant section of (i) the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (ii) the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, (iii) the Deer Act 1991, (iv) the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and (v) the Hunting Act 2004 in each year since 2019.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions offences under i) the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (ii) the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, (iii) the Deer Act 1991, (iv) the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and (v) the Hunting Act 2004 at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
The specific offences requested are listed below:
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Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the recall to prison programme.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Government’s absolute focus is on public protection. Offenders on licence can be swiftly recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions in such a way as to indicate that their risk to the public has increased and they are about to commit further offences. The recall of an offender to custody is an important public protection measure. We remain focused on reducing reoffending and the risks presented by offenders, so that they do not need to be recalled in the first place.
The HMI Probation Thematic Report on Probation Recall Culture & Practice, published in 2020, found that: “Public protection and the protection of victims are central to probation service decision-making on recall.”
We continue to work across Government to ensure that we take the necessary steps to reduce the recall population and keep the system functioning safely, whilst protecting the public which is our top priority.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take through the criminal justice system to reduce levels of violence against women.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government was elected with the unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, which is an integral part of the wider mission to take back our streets and raise confidence in the police and criminal justice system.
To begin, we have committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts to deliver swift and effective justice to some of the most vulnerable victims and survivors. In addition, we have announced that from next year, we will be rolling out free, independent legal advocates for victims and survivors of adult rape, ensuring that they have support to enforce their legal rights, for example, in relation to use of their personal records during an investigation or in court.
We will also be piloting Domestic Abuse Protection Orders from November, and in the family court we will further expand the Pathfinder courts model and ensure that children and families are better supported with access to domestic abuse specialists.
In our manifesto we also committed to banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes, as well as strengthening the law to help the police better respond to the crime of spiking.
These are just some of the early steps we are taking in the Ministry of Justice to deliver on our ambition to halve VAWG. I am also working closely with my cross-government colleagues to ensure every department is focussed on tackling this national emergency.