Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were awaiting hearing in the Youth Court as of 30 January (a) in each of the last five years and (b) 2023.

There were 8,099 youth outstanding cases in magistrates' courts in England and Wales as at the end of September 2022, the most recent time period available. This includes any case involving a defendant under the age of 18 heard in the magistrates’ courts, not just those heard in the Youth Court. It is not possible to separate out statistics for the latter.

Cases involving young defendants are given priority, irrespective of the Court in which they appear, and youth cases are continually reviewed to ensure that they are progressed as quickly as possible.

At any one time, there will always be outstanding cases - these are not backlogs, they are cases where evidence is being prepared for trial. The table below shows the number of the outstanding youth cases for the period end of September 2017 to end of September 2022. Outstanding youth cases at the magistrates’ court in 2020 were impacted by the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic but have since returned to levels seen prior to the pandemic.