Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making (a) court transcription services (i) cheaper and (ii) more accessible for the families of victims and (b) court recordings directly available to those families.

Bereaved families of victims of murder, manslaughter, and fatal road offences can request a free transcript of the judge’s sentencing remarks. Following the conclusion of a one-year pilot, on 22 May the Lord Chancellor announced that we are continuing the provision of free transcripts of sentencing remarks for victims of rape and other sexual offences on an ongoing basis.

More widely, we are actively considering how to make court transcripts more accessible, and we continue to explore the potential for using AI to produce transcripts more quickly and at a lower cost.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does does not currently have the technical capability to share audio files. Addressing this or expanding the provision of free transcripts would have operational and resource implications for HMCTS and the judiciary at a time when the system is under considerable pressure.