Courts
(asked on 12th January 2021) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hearings have taken place (a) physically, and (b) virtually in court in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
The following table sets out the number of physical compared to remote hearings in 2020. This data is unpublished and for internal management purposes.
| May | June | July | August | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Physical | 6,927 | 22,642 | 51,201 | 57,012 | 81,267 | 87,427 | 84,853 | 67,004 |
Remote | 49,857 | 96,511 | 94,292 | 83,410 | 91,473 | 86,316 | 85,008 | 60,453 |
Cloud Video Platform (CVP) has been rolled out to over 150 Magistrates and 70 Crown Courts nationally. As of 8 January 2021, there have been over 70,000 hearings over CVP in the magistrates’ and Crown Court.
The decision to deal with a hearing or part of a hearing remotely is a matter for the judiciary, who have been considering restrictions, transmission rates, social distancing concerns and the nature of audio and video since the beginning of the pandemic.