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.

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.