Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the proportion of (a) judges, (b) magistrates and (c) prosecutors currently working in courts who have undergone specialist training on working with children in a court environment.

Responsibility for training of judiciary, including magistrates, rests with the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ) and is exercised through the Judicial College.

Depending on the nature of the case, judicial office holders are authorised to hear, and receive specialist training for, cases involving children. Control is exercised through listing which is a judicial function. Where appropriate, special measures, including the use of an intermediary, are identified through the process of case management and used by the court to support children who give evidence. In further support of this, the LCJ set out his plans for authorising and training Crown Court Judges who will preside over trials involving child grooming by gangs in his letter to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 26^th July 2013.

Regular assessment of both training requirements and the numbers of authorised judicial office holders is made.

Answer (c) Ministerial responsibility for prosecutors rests with the Attorney General, Mr Dominic Grieve QC MP.