Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2014, to Question 212599, what estimate he has made of the number of court staff who interact with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

All operational court staff in customer service roles are in a position to interact with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service is committed to ensuring that court staff have the appropriate training and skills to support vulnerable victims and witnesses in court. From April 2015, it will become a mandatory requirement for court staff that come into direct contact with victims and witnesses to have a specific job objective on the care of victims.

These training courses are delivered within HMCTS regions depending on locally identified business needs. HMCTS does not collect information centrally on the number of court staff who have undertaken them since May 2010.