Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what power a court has to require a person to hand over a device if that device has been seen to have been used or is thought to have been used to take a photograph or recording in court.

The Court Act of 2003 Part 4 (54) provides the court security officer acting in the execution of his duty with the power to ask a person to surrender an article that may be evidence or in relation to an offence. It is an offence to take a photograph or recording in court and therefore the person will be asked to surrender the device by the court security officer. If this takes place within a court/hearing room this will be upon the direction of the judge.