Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to extend the broadcasting of court proceedings.

Broadcasting of live footage of the UK Supreme Court is already allowed. Since 2012, judgements and sentencing decisions in cases before the Court of Appeal, in both criminal and civil divisions are also broadcast.

In 2016 we conducted a not for broadcast test for judges’ sentencing remarks in eight Crown Court centres.

We will consider the lessons learnt from this test before considering next steps so to ensure that proper safeguards are introduced and that parties are treated fairly and their rights are respected.