Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people are in custody in England and Wales awaiting trial; and what is the average time taken from imprisonment to trial for those in custody.

The latest published data by the Ministry of Justice shows that on 31 December 2020 there were 8,222 prisoners in custody awaiting trial in England & Wales (Table 1.1, “Prison Population: 31 December 2020” https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2020).

Prison receptions data has enabled an approximation of the average time taken from imprisonment to trial for those in custody. Table 2 sets out (for those held on pre-trial remand) the average amount of time that prisoners were remanded in custody pre-trial up to the point that they were admitted to prison between conviction and sentencing in each of the last five years. In 2019 the average (mean) number of days that prisoners were remanded in custody pre-trial was 67. Published figures for the whole calendar year 2020 are not yet available.