Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle backlogs in the courts in the North East.

The Government is committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the court system.  This is being delivered through a combination of increased funding and improving efficiency. In the North East, specifically, the Government is taking the following steps:

CRIMINAL COURTS

For this financial year (25/26), this Government is funding a record allocation of Crown Court sitting days to deliver swifter justice for victims – 111,250 sitting days this year, 5,000 higher than the previous Government funded in the last financial year.

As a result of increased government funding, the North East circuit will sit an extra 1,500 days in FY25/26, taking the total to around 15,000 days.

In the magistrates’ courts, we continue to recruit trainee legal advisers and magistrates to deal with the increasing levels of cases coming into the courts.

FAMILY COURTS

The North East has strengthened arrangements between the judiciary and HMCTS operational teams. This collaborative approach ensures early triage of applications, timely allocation of judicial resources, and improved scheduling of hearings. By jointly reviewing case readiness and safeguarding information at the outset, courts are better able to identify appropriate pathways, reduce unnecessary delays, and maintain progress toward the 16-week measure.