Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the waiting time for PIP appeal hearings.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing outstanding caseloads is the key measure to bringing down the waiting times for tribunal hearings.
HMCTS continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology.
Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the charge to finalisation rate for (a) rape and (b) sexual offences in (i) Devon and (ii) Cornwall.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We recognise that, due to the complex nature of cases, victims and survivors of rape and sexual offences can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
To address this, we have committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts and are working with the Judiciary to find the best way to deliver this nationally.
This Government is also committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of rape and sexual offences are supported at every stage of the Criminal Justice System. In addition to fast-tracking rape cases, we have committed to increase the powers of the Victims’ Commissioner and introduce specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force. We will also be rolling out free, independent legal advocates who will help victims and survivors of adult rape uphold their rights.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the charge to finalisation rate in Devon and Cornwall.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are committed to delivering swift access to justice and reducing the outstanding caseload in the criminal courts. Whilst the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS have oversight of the timeliness with which cases move through the magistrates’ and Crown Courts, the decision on when and where a case is listed is the responsibility of the independent judiciary.
As part of our efforts to improve timeliness for victims and witnesses, we are funding 106,500 days at the Crown Court this financial year (24/25) – more than in 6 out of the last 7 years. During 23/24, the Crown Courts across Devon and Cornwall sat a record number of days.
The Devon and Cornwall Criminal Justice Board brings together agencies from across the criminal justice system to monitor charge to completion timeliness which is published in the Criminal Justice System Delivery Data Dashboard. The average time for charge to case completion in the Crown Courts in Devon and Cornwall was 198 days for the fourth quarter of 2023-24 (the most recent published data), which was down 39 days on the first quarter of that year. This is 104 days shorter than the national average of 302 days.