Oral Answers to Questions

Vicky Ford Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I remind the Front Benchers that topical questions are about getting other Members in? It is their time, not the Front Benchers’.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

T3. There are long waiting lists for the Crown court in Essex, and I am told that that is in part due to a shortage of judges. What progress is being made to shorten the waiting lists and appoint judges in Essex?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mike Freer)]

We are working hard to ensure that we recruit over 1,000 new judges. We are allowing 80 circuit judges and 125 fee-paid recorders to sit for more days to ensure we increase capacity. We are boosting circuit judge recruitment, with about 90 new appointments, who will sit in London and the south-east, including Essex, to address the issues my right hon. Friend raised.