Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his department is taking to reduce delays in listing Crown Court cases involving serious domestic violence.

This Government is committed to improving victims’ experience of the justice system. We have funded a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown Court sitting days to tackle the outstanding caseload, but we need to go further.

This is why we commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for all victims, including for victims of domestic abuse, in his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. The Government will respond to Part 1 of the report in due course. Work on Part 2 of the report, which is looking at how the criminal courts can operate as efficiently as possible, is also underway.

We know how important support services are in keeping victims engaged through the criminal justice process. The Ministry of Justice provides funding for victim and witness support services, including community-based domestic abuse services. To ensure these services can continue to be delivered, we have protected dedicated violence against women and girls' victims spending in the Department by maintaining 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced domestic abuse support this year.