Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of sentences handed out in open magistrates' courts were fines in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions at criminal courts in England and Wales between 2010 and June 2024 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.
For prosecutions from the Magistrates’ courts in England & Wales between 2010 and 2023, the Magistrates court tool can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2023 - GOV.UK.
The data requested can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Sentence Outcomes’ tab and using the ‘Sentence outcome’ filter to select ‘Fine’ in both the Magistrates’ court tool and the Outcome by Offence tool.
Currently, in centrally collated sentencing data, it is only possible to identify cases recorded and processed on the Automated Track Case Management System as Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases – this only reflects a portion of all SJP cases. There is work ongoing to improve this. Select the filter ‘SJP Flag’ to see number of these cases.
Mentions:
1: None “With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a Statement on sentencing in England and Wales - Speech Link
2: Lord Keen of Elie (Con - Life peer) My Lords, two days ago, magistrates and judges across England and Wales were, in effect, blindsided. - Speech Link
3: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) I reject the noble and learned Lord’s assertion that magistrates and judges were blindsided. - Speech Link
4: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) That is certainly true in my experience of sitting in youth courts and adult magistrates’ courts. - Speech Link
5: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) All our adult courts are open to the public and the press. - Speech Link
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of numbers of magistrates.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to increasing the number of magistrates and we aim to recruit up to 2,000 magistrates per year. We are investing in recruitment to ensure that we build a larger and more diverse group of magistrates to meet the needs of our courts. We are also continuously improving our recruitment process collaborating with the magistracy and Advisory Committees.
As of 01 April 2024, there were 14,576 active magistrates in England and Wales, an increase of 2,907 since the start of the Magistrate Attraction and Recruitment Campaign in January 2022. The next set of statistics for the period April 2024 to March 2025 will be published in July 2025.
Mentions:
1: Baroness Hazarika (Lab - Life peer) I also hope that we can use magistrates’ courts more. - Speech Link
2: Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington (XB - Life peer) The second would be turning magistrates’ courts into more of a Crown Court, which is what happened at - Speech Link
3: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) We also increased magistrates’ courts’ sentencing powers for a single triable either-way offence: previously - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Matt Vickers (Con - Stockton West) One of the things we must do now in this country is reinforce the use and the range of magistrates courts - Speech Link
2: Alex Davies-Jones (Lab - Pontypridd) The increased sentencing powers in magistrates courts have freed up the extent of 2,000 further sitting - Speech Link
3: None If so, is additional resourcing being given to magistrates courts and police legal teams to handle the - Speech Link
4: None standard magistrates court rules for such civil matters. - Speech Link
5: None Courts would likely make that clear. - Speech Link
May. 07 2025
Source Page: Victims and Courts BillFound: , or all proceedings in county courts or magistrates’ courts.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of magistrates' court sentences were fines in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions at criminal courts in England and Wales between 2010 and June 2024 in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.
For prosecutions from the Magistrates’ courts in England & Wales between 2010 and 2023, the Magistrates court tool can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2023 - GOV.UK.
The data requested can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Sentence Outcomes’ tab and using the ‘Sentence outcome’ filter to select ‘Fine’ in both the Magistrates’ court tool and the Outcome by Offence tool.
Currently, in centrally collated sentencing data, it is only possible to identify cases recorded and processed on the Automated Track Case Management System as Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases – this only reflects a portion of all SJP cases. There is work ongoing to improve this. Select the filter ‘SJP Flag’ to see number of these cases.
May. 13 2011
Source Page: Table showing the number of offenders a) issued a penalty notice for disorder for the years 2004 to 2009 and b) cautioned, prosecuted and convicted for the years 2000 to 2009 for selling alcohol to those who are under the legal age. 1 p.Found: with a penalty notice for disorder for 2004 to 2009, caution, and defendants proceeded against at magistrates
Correspondence Apr. 29 2025
Committee: Justice and Home Affairs CommitteeFound: 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Sarah Sackman KC MP Minister for Courts and Legal Services The
Published - Thursday 6th February 2025
Department: Ministry of JusticeBy virtue of section 180(1) Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (c. 12) (“the Act”), the Lord Chancellor may, with the consent of the Treasury, prescribe certain court fees of an amount which is intended to exceed the cost of the matter in respect of which the fee is …
Found: XXXXSENIOR COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALESMAGISTRATES' COURTS, ENGLAND AND WALESThe Civil Proceedings and