Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of televising sentencing remarks in Crown Courts.

In 2020, legislation was passed to allow, for the first time, television cameras into our Crown Courts to film and broadcast sentencing remarks. This power was used for the first time in July 2022 and, most recently for the sentencing of Jordan McSweeney at the Central Criminal Court on 14 December. The broadcasting of Crown Court sentencing remarks is an important measure to allow the public to see justice being delivered, increasing people’s understanding of, and confidence in, our justice system and why judges give the sentences they do. We continue to work closely with HMCTS and the media parties who have permission to broadcast Crown Court sentencing remarks, to ensure that the process runs smoothly.