Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints from victims have been received by the Courts and Probation Service in each of the last five years.

This Government is committed to putting victims and witnesses first, and we are reforming our system to make it so. This includes more than doubling funding to help victims since we came to power — reaching over £92million next year (2015/16) — to make sure victims receive the best possible support.

A unified administrative complaints procedure for HM Courts & Tribunals Service was launched in October 2011 which introduced a new set of categories and sub categories for recording details of complaints, including from victims. I am unable to provide data on complaints from victims before October 2011.

Data extracted on 4 March 2015 shows the numbers of complaints made by victims to HM Courts & Tribunals Service:

The National Offender Management Service does not currently record information centrally in relation to the number of complaints received from victims, and has not made an estimate of this number. Systems are being developed that will record complaints at a national level.

Notes:

1. Data for criminal cases disposed of in magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court are published in Criminal Courts Statistics Quarterly at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics .

2. The methodology for calculating magistrates’ court receipts was changed from April 2012. Data prior to this period is not comparable.

3. The latest data published is up to September 2014. Data to December 2014 will be published on 26 March 2015.