Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of days sat by Crown Courts in England in the financial years (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

The number of days sat by Crown Courts in England in the financial years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 are set out in the table below:

Note: Cases include all case types (e.g. trials, appeals, sentences etc.)

Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale management system and is the best data that is available.

Waiting times for trials in the Crown Court in 2018 were the lowest since 2014 - despite the challenge of increasingly complex cases - and the number of trial cases in hand is the lowest since 2000. We continue to review demand and performance in the Crown Court to ensure it has the resources it requires.