Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of trials that are waiting to be heard at (1) Maidstone Crown Court, and (2) Canterbury Crown Court; and when they estimate that the present backlogs will be cleared at each of these Courts.

The outstanding trial volume at Maidstone, as of Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2020, was 604 cases. This is 12% above the pre-COVID baseline of 538 cases in Q1 (Jan-Mar).

The outstanding trial volume at Canterbury, as of Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2020, was 377 cases. This is 10% above the pre-COVID baseline of 343 cases in Q1 (Jan-Mar).

Case receipts, finalisations and outstanding data is provided in the quarterly Criminal Court statistics published online at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics

In line with the Criminal Courts Recovery Plan, published in September 2020, HMCTS is increasing capacity to maximise the number of hearings that can be carried out in the context of social distancing. It is not possible at this stage to give a date for when the backlogs at Maidstone and Canterbury will return to pre-COVID levels, as it is dependent on the volume of receipts received, and the number of cases which can be dealt with within social distancing constraints.

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted HMCTS’ ability to list trials. Jury trials resumed at Maidstone and Canterbury Crown Courts on 29^th June 2020. Currently, Canterbury can hear jury trials in three of its five courtrooms and Maidstone in six of its eight courtrooms, to ensure adherence to social distancing measures.