Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that victims of domestic violence do not have the sentencing hearings of their abusers postponed the day before they are due to take place.

The decision on when and where a case is listed is the responsibility of the independent judiciary. Judges are guided in this task by judicial listing principles, which stipulate that cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses should be prioritised for hearing.

Judges continue to prioritise cases subject to Custody Time Limits, as well as prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses (including youth cases), domestic abuse and serious sex cases.

The courts do everything possible to ensure hearings take place for when they are listed, however, there are occasions when circumstances outside of their control result in a hearing needing to be postponed. In such circumstances, the court will notify parties as soon as possible.

The Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice have concluded the Concordat process, which sets out the overall budget for HMCTS and the number of days the courts can sit, earlier, to help ensure the courts can hear more of these important cases in a timely fashion.

There are a number of factors that would mean a case can no longer go ahead, including court maintenance. This is why we have announced a boost in court maintenance and capital project funding from £120 million last year, to up to £148.5 million for 2025/26. This will help fund vital repairs across the entire court and tribunal estate and contribute to the construction of the next generation of court and tribunal buildings.

However, we recognise we must go further. That is why the Lord Chancellor has commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. Given the scale of the challenge facing the courts we will look to act on recommendations from the review swiftly to deliver improvements as soon as possible