Oral Answers to Questions

Jonathan Brash Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Nicholas Dakin]

I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that matter. His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service worked to reprocure the next iteration of the graduate scheme, with contracts for an open procurement exercise. Although Unlocked Graduates was identified as the winning bidder and was offered the contract, it did not confirm its intent to sign the contract. The Department is now working hard to come up with plans to put a graduate scheme in place for future years.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking to tackle the court backlog.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

25. What assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the backlog of cases in courts.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Heidi Alexander)]

It is good to be back. Mr Speaker.

The Government are committed to reducing caseloads and bringing waiting times down for court users across all jurisdictions. We continue to keep 18 Nightingale courtrooms open across eight venues, so that we have more physical capacity to hear cases in all jurisdictions. We plan to sit more than 105,000 days in the Crown court and more than 102,000 days in the family court this financial year, enabling us to work through as many cases as possible.

[Mr Brash]

Hartlepool’s court building has stood empty since 2017, after it was mothballed by the then Conservative Government. Will my hon. Friend investigate the potential for reopening Hartlepool’s court as part of our efforts to expand capacity and clear the backlog, and will she meet me to discuss the issue further?

[Mr Speaker]

You might want to reopen Chorley court, which is also empty.