Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2014 to Question 211297, when he expects to write to the hon. Member for Tooting.

Currently the number of unrepresented defendants is not separately identifiable from defendants where no legal representation is known.

The Ministry of Justice is actively working to identify these defendants. Analysis across the department is currently underway which is seeking to improve data quality and establish a robust methodology to identify parties at court without legal representation.

I expect to be able to write to the Rt Honourable Member in the New Year. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House Library.