Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the unit of measurement for court funding to judicial working days from sitting days.

The funding of HM Courts and Tribunals Service is agreed annually between the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals, via the Concordat process.

Sitting days are an important metric used in this process, because they currently provide the best basis for estimating the number of case disposals that can be achieved for a given level of funding. This is essential to assess any funding proposal’s impact on waiting times, caseloads and access to justice.

Judicial working time incorporates other important tasks (including work outside the hearing room, training, recruitment and leadership work) in addition to the time sitting in courts and tribunals. Work is underway to consider whether the definition of a ‘sitting day’ can be updated and improved to account for work outside of the hearing room that directly helps to progress cases towards disposal.

As the Lord Chancellor has previously set out, she is determined that the Concordat process under her will be different and improved.