Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the annual cost of providing free transcripts of sentencing remarks to all eligible victims under section 22 of the Sentencing Act 2026; and what assumptions about the annual number of requests and the average cost of producing a transcript underpin that estimate.

Improving victims' experience of the criminal justice system is a key priority. That is why we have committed to implementing Section 22 of the Sentencing Act 2026, which will enable all victims of crime whose cases are heard in the Crown Court to request a free transcript of the sentencing remarks in their case.

Our ambition remains to ensure this will be available from Spring 2027. However, at this stage, as the Department continues to develop how this expanded service will operate, and to assess likely demand and costs, we are not yet in a position to provide an estimate of the annual cost, nor the assumptions underpinning it. These will be considered in depth as we work towards implementation