Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) victims and (b) witnesses had access to discrete waiting areas in courts in England and Wales in the last year for which data is available.

The Government pledged in “Our Commitment to Victims” to consider the needs of victims and witnesses as we reform the court system. This will include upgrading facilities such as separate waiting areas.

All Crown Court Centres have separate waiting facilities for victims and witnesses.

97% of magistrates’ courts have some kind of separate witness waiting facility.[1] For those courts that do not have this facility, special arrangements are put in place with advance notice.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service uses information about victims and witnesses in criminal cases to ensure that individual trials are managed effectively and victims and witnesses are not kept waiting around unnecessarily to give their evidence. We do not, however, hold data on the number of victims and witnesses choosing to use the discrete waiting areas.

[1] Her Majesty’s Court Service Annual Report and Accounts 2009-2010

http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/hmcs/annual-reports/HMCS-Annual-Report2009-2010-web.pdf?type=Finjan-Download&slot=000000A2&id=000000A1&location=0A64020C