Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child sexual abuse criminal cases have had their court dates postponed since the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown period.

Magistrates’ and Crown Court figures relating to child sexual abuse adjournments are not collated, however cases with serious safeguarding implications are being prioritised for listing by the independent judiciary. Figures on vacated trials in the first and second quarters of 2020 are due for publication as part of the National Statistics on criminal courts in June and September 2020 respectively.