Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to section 240A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that time spent remanded on bail by offenders is not counted towards time served in cases in which a victim died as a result of the crime.

The decision to remand an individual in custody or to grant bail is solely a matter for the courts acting in accordance with the Bail Act 1976.

Time spent remanded on bail does not count towards time served unless, as a defendant, the offender was remanded on bail with an electronically monitored curfew of 9 hours or more per day. An electronically monitored curfew of 9 hours or over can result in a credit of half a day of custodial time. If compensation against time in custody is to be considered by the court following sentencing, they will need to be satisfied that the electronically monitored curfew was fully complied with on each day that is taken into account.