Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Failure to Appear warrants were issued (a) in each year between 2014 and 2018 and (b) from 1 January to 30 April 2019.

Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) published its response to the consultation Fit for the future: transforming the Court and Tribunal Estate on 10 May 2019.

Figures on Failure To Attend warrants for the period 2011 to 2017 appear on page 16 of that response: -

Magistrates Courts – Failure to Attend Warrants (FTA)

Note: Figures are for warrants issued in Criminal Proceedings for failing to attend Court, as well as those issued for failing to comply with the requirements of a Community Order. Figures are based on cases rather than defendants which means that where a defendant has more than one case for which a warrant is issued, each instance will be counted. Data is based on the most serious offence type on a case when it is registered on the HMCTS Libra Case Management system, and where a warrant is issued at different hearings for the same case, each issuance will be counted.

The full document can be found on GOV.UK at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/800874/hmcts-fit-for-the-future-consultation-response.pdf

The number of Failure to Attend warrants for 2018, and those between January and April 2019, will be published later this year.

The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are developing a consistent statistical measure of Failure to Appear warrants and will be publishing a time series of these figures alongside MoJ court statistics later this year.