Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for which the number of cases that have been declared ineffective as a result of poor case preparation has increased since 2021; and what steps she is taking to help support the sector in reducing this.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Official Statistics (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly) show that in 2024, of the 31,158 trials in the Crown Courts, 665 trials were ineffective due to witness unavailability and 1,637 trials were ineffective due to defendant unavailability. These figures should be interpreted with caution, as they encompass instances of illness, situations where Prisoner Escort and Custody Services lack capacity and cases involving misinformed defendants. Data on trials that have overran is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
The judiciary, supported by the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS, is committed to driving down the ineffective trial rate. Since 2023 trends have been improving, and the proportion of ineffective trials in Crown Courts has reduced from 27% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.
To improve court case efficiencies, the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are currently testing a newly formed “Case Coordinator” role in Crown Courts as a proof-of-concept. The role is designed to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. Case Coordinators are a dedicated senior case progression resource, handling cases from receipt through to disposal with a strong focus on early case management and trials. Case Coordinators work with the CPS, defence, and other relevant parties to help ensure timetables are kept, responsibilities and judicial orders are abided by, and parties are prepared for hearings and trials. The ambition is that the Case Coordinator role will lead to fewer ineffective hearings and trials, fewer cracked trials, and overall, less wasted court time. The impact of role will be evaluated in Autumn 2025, once the pilot has concluded.
We welcome this progress, but further work is needed to reduce ineffective trials. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction or acquittal.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of trials overran in 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Official Statistics (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly) show that in 2024, of the 31,158 trials in the Crown Courts, 665 trials were ineffective due to witness unavailability and 1,637 trials were ineffective due to defendant unavailability. These figures should be interpreted with caution, as they encompass instances of illness, situations where Prisoner Escort and Custody Services lack capacity and cases involving misinformed defendants. Data on trials that have overran is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
The judiciary, supported by the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS, is committed to driving down the ineffective trial rate. Since 2023 trends have been improving, and the proportion of ineffective trials in Crown Courts has reduced from 27% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.
To improve court case efficiencies, the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are currently testing a newly formed “Case Coordinator” role in Crown Courts as a proof-of-concept. The role is designed to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. Case Coordinators are a dedicated senior case progression resource, handling cases from receipt through to disposal with a strong focus on early case management and trials. Case Coordinators work with the CPS, defence, and other relevant parties to help ensure timetables are kept, responsibilities and judicial orders are abided by, and parties are prepared for hearings and trials. The ambition is that the Case Coordinator role will lead to fewer ineffective hearings and trials, fewer cracked trials, and overall, less wasted court time. The impact of role will be evaluated in Autumn 2025, once the pilot has concluded.
We welcome this progress, but further work is needed to reduce ineffective trials. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction or acquittal.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what local taxes she intends for Mayors to be able to levy.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Devolution White Paper sets out an enhanced Devolution Framework. This will be available by default rather than by deal, to both existing and new strategic authorities, creating a consistent, systematic approach and providing Mayor’s with the power to decide what is right for their areas. This framework includes the ability for all Mayoral Strategic Authorities to introduce mayoral precepting on council tax and the ability to raise a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy to fund strategic infrastructure once a Spatial Development Strategy is in place.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the impact of the European Union’s proposed Capital Requirements Directive VI and its prohibition on the provision of cross-border banking services to European Economic Area clients on UK financial services and consumers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The impact of Capital Requirements Directive VI on UK financial services is uncertain and will vary across different UK financial services firms. This will be dependent on the nature of services that those firms provide to European Economic Area (EEA) clients and the approach to implementation of the Directive in the respective EEA member states. UK consumers should not be affected as the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive VI applies to services being provided to EEA clients.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the frequency of ineffective trials that occur as a result of (a) witness and (b) defendant unavailability.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Official Statistics (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly) show that in 2024, of the 31,158 trials in the Crown Courts, 665 trials were ineffective due to witness unavailability and 1,637 trials were ineffective due to defendant unavailability. These figures should be interpreted with caution, as they encompass instances of illness, situations where Prisoner Escort and Custody Services lack capacity and cases involving misinformed defendants. Data on trials that have overran is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
The judiciary, supported by the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS, is committed to driving down the ineffective trial rate. Since 2023 trends have been improving, and the proportion of ineffective trials in Crown Courts has reduced from 27% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.
To improve court case efficiencies, the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are currently testing a newly formed “Case Coordinator” role in Crown Courts as a proof-of-concept. The role is designed to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. Case Coordinators are a dedicated senior case progression resource, handling cases from receipt through to disposal with a strong focus on early case management and trials. Case Coordinators work with the CPS, defence, and other relevant parties to help ensure timetables are kept, responsibilities and judicial orders are abided by, and parties are prepared for hearings and trials. The ambition is that the Case Coordinator role will lead to fewer ineffective hearings and trials, fewer cracked trials, and overall, less wasted court time. The impact of role will be evaluated in Autumn 2025, once the pilot has concluded.
We welcome this progress, but further work is needed to reduce ineffective trials. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction or acquittal.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many trials were deemed ineffective because of (a) witness and (b) defendant unavailability in 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Official Statistics (Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly) show that in 2024, of the 31,158 trials in the Crown Courts, 665 trials were ineffective due to witness unavailability and 1,637 trials were ineffective due to defendant unavailability. These figures should be interpreted with caution, as they encompass instances of illness, situations where Prisoner Escort and Custody Services lack capacity and cases involving misinformed defendants. Data on trials that have overran is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
The judiciary, supported by the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS, is committed to driving down the ineffective trial rate. Since 2023 trends have been improving, and the proportion of ineffective trials in Crown Courts has reduced from 27% in 2023 to 25% in 2024.
To improve court case efficiencies, the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS are currently testing a newly formed “Case Coordinator” role in Crown Courts as a proof-of-concept. The role is designed to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. Case Coordinators are a dedicated senior case progression resource, handling cases from receipt through to disposal with a strong focus on early case management and trials. Case Coordinators work with the CPS, defence, and other relevant parties to help ensure timetables are kept, responsibilities and judicial orders are abided by, and parties are prepared for hearings and trials. The ambition is that the Case Coordinator role will lead to fewer ineffective hearings and trials, fewer cracked trials, and overall, less wasted court time. The impact of role will be evaluated in Autumn 2025, once the pilot has concluded.
We welcome this progress, but further work is needed to reduce ineffective trials. The Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction or acquittal.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payments are also in receipt of Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
According to the latest figures from August 2024, in England and Wales there were 3,512,676 people claiming Personal Independence Payment. Of these, 190,186, or 5.4%, also claimed Carer’s Allowance.
These figures include people who receive Carer’s Allowance payments, as well as people who have an entitlement to Carer’s Allowance but do not receive a payment usually because they also receive another benefit, such as the State Pension, which is paid at an equivalent or higher rate.
The source of these figures is the Benefits Combination Dataset on Stat-Xplore.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when recycling services will be restored in Birmingham; and what estimate she has made of the quantity of recycling material in Birmingham directed to landfill since the suspension of those services.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Birmingham City Council plans to restore household recycling collections when the waste dispute is resolved. The City Council has increased the opening hours of its 5 household waste recycling facilities which remain open to households. We understand that no recycling material has been sent to landfill since the suspension of household waste collections.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance the Government has provided to police forces on election purdah (a) rules and (b) restrictions on publicity during the pre-election period of local elections.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not issue pre-election guidance to Police Forces.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether their Department plans to amend its policies on access to (a) toilets, (b) changing facilities and (c) other single-sex spaces in (i) Departmental buildings and (ii) other buildings within their Department’s remit following the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, is developing updated guidance to support service providers. Ministers will consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it following further work in light of this ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.