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Written Question
Prisoner Escorts
Monday 16th December 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2024 to Question 14304 on Prisoners Escort, how her Department defines agreed court start times.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The team in HM Prison & Probation Service responsible for managing the Prisoner Escort & Custody Service (PECS) contracts collects data relating to trial delays from several sources. HM Courts and Tribunal Service submits a Court Exceptions Report in respect of each instance of hearing delay; the contractors also self-report any delays; and the contract management team undertake further assurance work through site visits.

Court operating times were agreed with HM Courts and Tribunal Service as part of the procurement process for the PECS contracts and are set out in contract schedules. For each court day, the start time is determined by the judge, taking account of the scheduled operating time. The PECS contractor is required to produce the prisoner in advance of the start time decided by the judge, provided this is within the operating times set out in the contract.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts
Monday 16th December 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2024 to Question 14304 on Prisoners Escort, how her Department collects data on prisoner delays.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The team in HM Prison & Probation Service responsible for managing the Prisoner Escort & Custody Service (PECS) contracts collects data relating to trial delays from several sources. HM Courts and Tribunal Service submits a Court Exceptions Report in respect of each instance of hearing delay; the contractors also self-report any delays; and the contract management team undertake further assurance work through site visits.

Court operating times were agreed with HM Courts and Tribunal Service as part of the procurement process for the PECS contracts and are set out in contract schedules. For each court day, the start time is determined by the judge, taking account of the scheduled operating time. The PECS contractor is required to produce the prisoner in advance of the start time decided by the judge, provided this is within the operating times set out in the contract.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts: Magistrates' Courts
Wednesday 20th November 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, how many penalties for late delivery of a prisoner to the Magistrates Court were issued in (a) 2024 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.

The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.

In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.

In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.

As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.

The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts: Crown Court
Wednesday 20th November 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, how many penalties for late delivery of a prisoner to the Crown Court were issued in (a) 2024 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.

The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.

In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.

In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.

As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.

The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts
Wednesday 20th November 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12397 on Prisoners Escort, what the average time for a late delivery of a prisoner is to (a) Crown Court and (b) Magistrates Court.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Delays attributable to prisoner escort supplier failure are calculated from the point at which court proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes. Penalties (known as service credits) are applicable for every subsequent 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, whereupon the supplier is penalised for a full 15 minutes.

The following information relates to application of service credits for late delivery of a prisoner to either the Crown Court or a magistrates’ court.

In 2023, out of 299,470 journeys to court undertaken by the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service, 484 instances of supplier failure resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers.

In 2024, up to 31 October, out of 274,606 journeys to court, there were 228 instances of supplier failure that resulted in service credits being paid by suppliers. 99.92% of all journeys arrive on time.

As delays are recorded in periods of 15 minutes, it is not possible to calculate a precise average length of delay.

The breakdown requested between the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts is not available, and the work needed to provide it could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Prisoner Escorts
Monday 11th November 2024

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the contractual penalties are for the late transfer of prisoners to court; and at what point the penalty starts if a prisoner is transferred late to court.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The contracts for the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service set out the penalties, referred to as “service credits”, applied to suppliers found culpable for late delivery of a prisoner to court, where this has the effect of delaying the hearing. The delay is calculated from the point at which proceedings are ready to commence, provided this is within the agreed court start times and the delay is greater than 15 minutes.

Service credits are calculated using a points system. After the first 15 minutes, five service points are applied in the Crown Court for each 15 minutes of delay, or part thereof, and in magistrates courts, three service points.

A single service point is currently set at £121.53. The penalty for each applicable 15-minute delay (or part thereof) in the Crown Court is therefore £607.65, and in magistrates’ courts £364.59.


Written Question
HM Courts Service: Data Protection
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of calls to the Courts Service were requests for information on claimant data in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Mike Freer

The information requested is not held centrally.


Written Question
Criminal Proceedings: Legal Aid Scheme
Wednesday 25th May 2022

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal legal aid firms have been added to the Legal Aid Agency’s list of providers willing to accept instructions for advocacy services at different locations since 11 April 2022; and what data his Department holds on number of trials in the Crown Court that have been adjourned or postponed due to the unavailability of a defence advocate.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

At the point the Crown Court Representation Helpline was launched on 20 April, there were 19 contacts registered. The helpline does not require higher court advocates to be registered individually. Therefore, some of the registered contacts may have multiple higher court advocates available to provide advocacy services in the Crown Court. The number of registered contacts is subject to fluctuation.

The Crown Court Representation Helpline is in place to make the process of identifying higher court advocates easier for providers who may be impacted by barristers declining to accept returns in defence cases as part of national Criminal Bar Association disruptive action. Providers are not limited to instructing higher court advocates registered with the helpline. The Public Defender Service may also be able to provide advocacy support where cases have been impacted by the no returns action.

The Department publishes data on volumes and the reasons why trials do not go ahead as part of the Criminal court statistics quarterly. The latest statistics cover the period October to December 2021. In line with the timetable for the publication of official statistics into the public domain we are unable to provide data for more recent months at this time.


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme
Thursday 23rd September 2021

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many legal aid (a) providers and (b) offices were practising in cases of (a) claims against public authorities, (b) community care, (c) discrimination, (d) education, (e) housing and debt, (f) immigration and asylum, (g) family law, (h) clinical negligence, (i) mental health, (j) public law, (k) welfare benefits in each year from September 2012 to September 2021.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.

Operational system data on the volume of providers holding legal aid contracts at any given time is subject to change due to the internal management and updating of contract schedules, which may impact both real time and historic data.

Civil legal aid providers (firms) and offices in each year, broken down by category of law enquired about, from 2012 to most recent quarter:

Volume of Providers (firms)

Category of Law

Apr-12

Sep-12

Apr-13

Apr-14

Apr-15

Apr-16

Apr-17

Apr-18

Apr-19

Apr-20

Apr-21

Sep-21

Claims Against the Public Authorities

63

62

58

54

53

65

65

64

80

74

71

70

Community Care

85

84

83

71

91

87

81

76

94

88

83

82

Discrimination

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

17

18

17

Education

24

23

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

8

13

10

Housing and Debt

346

332

368

345

323

305

286

254

295

265

245

238

Immigration Asylum

197

194

239

226

199

182

166

141

203

189

176

172

Immigration Other*

198

195

Family

1,557

1,507

1,352

1,269

1,211

1,160

1,090

1,003

1,029

992

959

937

Clinical Negligence

169

166

166

156

142

107

106

100

100

99

95

93

Mental Health

172

171

168

160

176

169

158

147

156

147

135

135

Public Law

87

85

83

79

74

92

89

84

110

99

95

95

Welfare Benefits

286

274

0

14

15

15

16

14

52

41

38

36

Volume of Offices

Category of Law

Apr-12

Sep-12

Apr-13

Apr-14

Apr-15

Apr-16

Apr-17

Apr-18

Apr-19

Apr-20

Apr-21

Sep-21

Claims Against the Public Authorities

83

82

79

74

72

80

80

78

119

112

104

101

Community Care

140

139

131

115

163

142

136

124

146

137

129

127

Discrimination

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

23

22

21

Education

28

27

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

18

22

19

Housing and Debt

537

524

710

652

606

560

525

475

480

436

407

397

Immigration Asylum

228

224

405

376

323

285

262

229

303

281

263

257

Immigration Other*

229

225

Family

2,328

2,273

2,254

2,134

2,001

1,890

1,732

1,616

1,713

1,654

1,575

1,537

Clinical Negligence

291

285

285

267

248

196

191

180

175

170

164

159

Mental Health

193

192

189

179

200

189

173

161

181

172

159

157

Public Law

111

108

107

101

95

111

108

102

155

141

130

130

Welfare Benefits

364

353

0

13

15

14

15

13

50

39

36

34

*ceased as separate category


Written Question
Legal Aid Scheme: Contracts
Wednesday 22nd September 2021

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) providers and (b) offices in criminal legal aid there were from September 2012 to September 2021.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

There are currently 1,080 Providers who hold a Criminal Legal Aid Contract. There are currently 1,401 Providers who hold a Civil Legal Aid Contract. This data is correct as at 17th September 2021. Please note for the figures provided that firms may have more than one office.

The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.

Operational system data on the volume of providers holding legal aid contracts at any given time is subject to change due to the internal management and updating of contract schedules, which may impact both real time and historic data.

Criminal legal aid providers (firms) and offices in each year, from September 2012 to September 2021:

Apr-12

Sep-12

Apr-13

Apr-14

Apr-15

Apr-16

Apr-17

Apr-18

Apr-19

Apr-20

Apr-21

Sep-21

Firms

1,652

1621

1,595

1,513

1,425

1,386

1,310

1,266

1,194

1,154

1,090

1,080

Offices

2,318

2292

2,258

2,142

2,040

1,969

1,981

1,913

1,802

1,717

1,589

1,565