Prisons: Video Conferencing

(asked on 18th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria are used to assess whether a case is suitable for a prison video link.


Answered by
Shailesh Vara Portrait
Shailesh Vara
This question was answered on 25th November 2014

Prison to Court Video Links (PCVL) allow offenders to appear in court via a live video link from a room in the prison. Relevant data has been collected from June 2012 following the introduction of the Government’s Transforming Justice agenda and shows that the number of defendants heard via PCVL were 32,633 from June to December 2012; 53,487 in 2013 and 59,635 so far this year. The data only records the number of instances in which PCVL was used and does not record the hearing type. Consequently specific data about the number of sentencing hearings that are held using PCVL is not available.

The Secretary of State and ministers meet regularly with the senior judiciary to discuss matters relating to the effective operation of the justice system including the use of video. The use of video in court – which includes prison to court video links - is also outlined in the Criminal Procedure Rules. These are drafted by the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, which is chaired by the judiciary and involves practitioners.

To ensure a clear and shared understanding across the CJS of the policy and criteria around video links, national guidance for Magistrates and Crown Courts on Prison to Court Video Links has been produced. (This is attached as an Annex). The criteria that will be used in a case to assess whether it is suitable will include, amongst other things, whether it is an eligible hearing type, public protection and risk issues and the welfare of the defendant.

S57B (6) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 sets out a presumption that in preliminary hearings for adults, magistrates will utilise video links. However reasons can be given for not doing so. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 extended use of prison-court live links to sentencing hearings and appeals.

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