Oral Answers to Questions

Wendy Morton Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am afraid that there were two factual errors in the hon. Lady’s question. First, the prison population is exactly the same as it was in 2010—it has not gone up. Secondly, we are recruiting people at a record rate and have a record number of officers in training.

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

10. What progress the Government have made on modernising the court system.

[The Minister for Courts and Justice (Sir Oliver Heald)]

We are investing £1 billion to reform and take paper out of our courts, and the Prisons and Courts Bill underpins those reforms.

[Wendy Morton]

The Prisons and Courts Bill clearly underpins the Government’s vision to modernise our court system, but I am particularly interested in the measures to allow victims and vulnerable witnesses to avoid the risk of coming face to face with their assailant. Will my right hon. and learned Friend update me, please?

[Sir Oliver Heald]

We will obviously have physical measures, such as the use of screens in courts, but we also intend to maximise the use of video links in criminal court proceedings, to roll out pre-recorded evidence and to make greater use of prison-to-court video links. The Bill also helps to protect vulnerable witnesses in family cases by banning cross-examination by perpetrators in certain circumstances, including where there has been domestic abuse.