Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for personal independence payment appeals to be decided at HM Courts & Tribunals Service Ashford.

The Ministry of Justice expects appeal hearings to take place as quickly as possible and is carrying out a series of initiatives to increase capacity which will help reduce waiting times for appellants in Ashford. Since September 2018, three additional judges have been allocated to Ashford as their primary venue and three further judges have been allocated to Ashford as their secondary venue. Furthermore, from November this year the capacity at the Ashford venue will increase from three hearing rooms to four on a daily basis and from August 2019, appeals to be heard at the Ashford venue can now be heard at a new venue in Hastings, depending on the appellant’s postcode.