Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information HM Courts and Tribunals Service holds on failures of the Digital Audio Recording Transcription and Storage system at Exeter Crown Court in each year from 2018 to 2025, including (a) the number of recording failures and (b) the percentage of hearings affected.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) uses the Digital Audio Recording, Transcription and Storage (DARTS) system across the Crown Court estate to record hearings. HMCTS and its suppliers hold various forms of information relating to DARTS maintenance and performance.

However, HMCTS does not maintain or validate data on recording failures (or the percentage of hearings affected by such failures) per se, whether specifically about the Crown Court centre at Exeter or generally.