Written questions by Grant.

What his planned timetable is for the operation of specialist courts to fast-track rape cases.

This Government is committed to improving victims’ experience of the justice system. We commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to propose bold and ambitious measures to deliver swifter justice for victims, including for victims of sexual violence, in his Independent Review of Criminal Courts. Work on Part 2 of the report, which is looking at how the criminal courts can operate as efficiently as possible, is underway. We expect it to be finalised this year. We are considering how we can deliver our manifesto commitment alongside this work.We are also committed to tackling the outstanding caseload to improve timeliness - we have already doubled magistrates’ sentencing powers, so that Crown Courts can focus on the most serious cases, and this year we have funded a record-high allocation of 111,250 Crown Court sitting days.

By what date he plans to introduce free independent legal advice for adult rape victims.

The Government continues to progress the manifesto commitment to introduce free independent legal advice (ILA) for victims of adult rape, to help them understand and feel confident in their legal rights.ILAs will be able to help victims with issues including understanding their rights, understanding what constitutes a reasonable Third-Party Material or digital material request, assisting with complaint applications, compensation claims, and the Victim’s Right to Review scheme.We will be making further announcements about our plans for the rollout of this service in due course.

Whether she has plans to increase the use of artificial intelligence in the HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.AI has the potential to enable service improvements across HMCTS, and we are exploring how it can be applied responsibly to our operations and services, including to support document processing, transcription, summarisation and translation. The use of AI in the courts and tribunals will be focused on accelerating and assisting people’s work, not automating decisions.All use of artificial intelligence in the Ministry of Justice is aligned with the AI Playbook for the UK Government and the Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard. The Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals issued AI Guidance for the judiciary in December 2023.

If she will make an estimate of the total cost to the public purse of accessing court transcripts for each of the last five years.

The cost incurred by HM Courts and Tribunals Service for transcription services in the five most recent financial years (April – March) is as below:Financial YearTotal Spend (£)2019-201,252,2012020-21939,3092021-221,258,3532022-231,104,6672023-241,043,971These figures do not include transcription spend incurred by Legal Aid Agency which are covered by central funds as these are not included in the accounts for HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

What the average cost of a (a) court and (b) tribunal hearing transcript is.

The cost of a court or tribunal transcript varies, depending on the length of the hearing, whether the transcript is new or a copy, and the speed of delivery requested. HMCTS contracts with external suppliers to provide court transcripts who hold data on orders that they receive. While HMCTS does not retain data centrally on the costs of court or tribunal transcripts, supplier Management Information data for the period January to December 2024 was extracted as follows:Total number of court and tribunal transcripts produced: 45,178The average cost of a transcript order between January and December 2024 based on the transcripts produced: £117.00 (excl. VAT) Court and tribunal hearings differ significantly in length (from hearings that last less than a day to trials that can last several weeks or months) and transcript costs are in proportion to the volume of audio that must be transcribed and checked on a case-by-case basis. While costs of shorter hearings may be lower, full hearings or trials can cost significantly more. Therefore, the average cost calculated above using supplier data is not reflective of the full range of court and tribunal hearings and is not a general average cost of transcripts.

With reference to Q3 of the oral evidence given by the Lady Chief Justice of England to the Justice Select Committee on 26 November 2024, HC 421, what estimate she has made of the total cost of sitting the extra 6,500 court sitting days to reach the maximum 113,000 days available.

113,000 sitting days are a theoretical maximum of judicial sitting days in the Crown Court. It is not clear whether other parts of the system – for example the availability of counsel - could sustain that level of sitting, and therefore it is not correct to say that number of sitting days was 'available' for FY24/25.In June the previous Lord Chancellor reached agreement with the Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court in FY24/25 within a total budget of £275 million. In September, the current Lord Chancellor increased the allocation of sitting days for the Crown Court by 500 additional days and then again in December by 2,000, meaning that the total allocation for FY 24/25 is now 108,500, the highest number in nearly a decade.

How many cases involved violence against (a) women and (b) girls in (i) criminal and (ii) family courts in each of the last five years.

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government, which is why we have committed to halving the prevalence of VAWG within the decade. We will go further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approac...

What the reoffending rates are of (a) former Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners following the termination of their licence period, (b) the general prison population and (c) prisoners released under the

Reoffending rates for offenders released from an IPP sentence are measured from the point of prison release in line with the published methodology, not from the point of licence termination. The latest proven reoffending rate for offenders released from a...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of prolonged imprisonment on the (a) mental health and (b) prospects for safe release of prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection sentences; and wh

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the average length of time Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners spent in custody following recall. The most recent data can be found in Table 5.Q.11: licence-recalls-Apr-to-June-2024.ods. T...

How many Imprisonment for Public Protection prisoners were (a) in custody and (b) in the community on licence in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the average length of time Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners spent in custody following recall. The most recent data can be found in Table 5.Q.11: licence-recalls-Apr-to-June-2024.ods. T...

What the average length of time imprisonment for public protection prisoners spend in custody following a recall; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extended recall periods on trends in s

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data on the average length of time Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) prisoners spent in custody following recall. The most recent data can be found in Table 5.Q.11: licence-recalls-Apr-to-June-2024.ods. T...

For what reasons was there a reduction in Parole Board oral review hearings for imprisonment for public protection prisoners between (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2022-23; and what steps her Department is taking to increas

In 2018/19 there were 1,317 review oral hearings for IPP prisoners and in 2022/23 there were 792, a reduction of 40%. During a similar period, the unreleased IPP prisoner population reduced from 2,491 on 31 December 2018 to 1,227 on 31 December 2023, a re...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing a proportion of the funding provided to Police and Crime Commissioners for the provision of (a) independent domestic violence advisers and (b

Supporting victims and witnesses remains a priority focus for the Department and Ministers. Collectively, we are committed to the Government’s pledge to halve Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade.Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in Eng...

What recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of economic abuse of older people.

Economic abuse is recognised as a form of abusive behaviour under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. This Government is committed to halving violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, in a decade. Though the Department does not hold prevalence ...

Whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on developing a strategy for preventing violence and abuse against older people.

The Government is clear that violence and abuse towards anybody is unacceptable. Though anyone can suffer from domestic abuse, for older victims, abuse may be more disguised or compounded by other age-related factors such as ill health. I have had meeting...

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the capacity of the High Court (Family Division) to undertake reviews of all required cases under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is not Government legislation. If the Bill were to progress, the Government may well assess the policy and its impacts. Should the Bill become law, the appropriate arrangements will be made to ensure the Govern...