House of Commons · Westminster Hall
08 April 2025 · 8 other contributors · 6,843 words
Opened by Tristan Osborne Lab Chatham and Aylesford
Responding minister: Sarah Sackman
Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.
Tristan Osborne raised concerns about court waiting times: kent in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key points
Key requests to Government
Tristan Osborne asks the Minister to look at a more centralised approach to case distribution and expanding digital and video recording equipment investment. He also requests a review of sentencing to reduce throughput into Crown courts and a conversation about family courts moving out of Crown court locations, since they do not need cell capacity.
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.
Opened the debate
The court waiting times issue is symptomatic of deeper structural challenges across the entire justice system. According to open-source information, Maidstone Crown Court currently has 2,367 outstanding cases compared with Canterbury's 894, while Kent police and crime commissioner data shows a 269% increase in court backlogs from July to September last year, leaving a total of 3,261 Crown court cases waiting to be heard as of September.
Discussed the Government's inheritance, blaming external factors like the pandemic but acknowledging challenges with prisons and Crown courts.
During the pandemic, jury trials were suspended but gradually reopened. The Government took extraordinary steps to tackle social distancing measures' impact on holding jury trials by opening Nightingale courts and increasing judges.
The backlogs in Crown courts are unacceptable and have real human costs for victims waiting years for their day in court. Asked questions about shorter sentencing and fell into a common trap of comparing reoffending rates between short sentences and non-custodial sentences without considering the differences in case types.
Discussed digitisation efforts by the Government to improve access to justice, mentioning end-to-end digitisation processes and remote hearings.
Concerned specifically with the situation in Kent, including the additional courtroom at Canterbury.
The delays in justice are impacting constituents, including victims of domestic abuse and those involved in civil disputes. The number of open cases in magistrates courts in east Kent was just over 2,900 in December.
Asked about the number of crime court sitting days compared to previous government funding.
Talked about prevention measures in relation to societal pressures leading to increased demand on the legal system, supporting youth hub policies.
Government Response
Sarah SackmanThe Minister of State, Ministry of Justice
Acknowledged the profound challenges faced by the Government with a Crown court backlog of 74,000 cases. Emphasised that the previous government failed to take decisive action and highlighted actions taken such as funding an additional 2,500 court sitting days and giving magistrates extra sentencing powers to free up capacity within the Crown court. Announced funding enabling 110,000 crime court sitting days and an additional courtroom at Canterbury. Worked with circuit-presiding judges to enable additional Kent cases to be heard in London. Commits to Sir Brian Leveson's review for radical reform of criminal courts. Introduced dedicated victim liaison officers for all adult victims of rape and serious sexual offences, offering pre-trial meetings with prosecutors. Aims to introduce free independent legal advice for survivors of adult rape later this year as part of the ambition to halve violence against women and girls.