Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department plans to do about the number of prisoners spending time on remand exceeding the Custody Time Limit of 6 months.

The use of remand is a judicial matter and decisions regarding it are up to the judiciary, whose independence from government is well-established. There are well established processes for extending Custody Time Limits. Applications must be approved by independent judges and defendants have the right to oppose any application.