Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of the use of pre-recorded evidence on the efficiency of court cases.

Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 gives victims the opportunity to have their cross-examination pre-recorded, without having to take part in a live trial, subject to judicial discretion.

In 2016, the Government published the results of a process evaluation of the pilot of Section 28 for vulnerable witnesses, conducted with criminal justice practitioners who had used the provision. This autumn, we aim to publish the results of a similar evaluation of the provision for victims of sexual and modern slavery.

We are looking at data from the pilot courts and working with partners to roll out s.28 for victims of sexual and modern slavery offences in all Crown Courts.