Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning an independent, public evaluation of the impact of remote trials in criminal courts on access to justice, justice outcomes, and the representation of defendants.

Remote hearings are a key part of reform of our courts and tribunals system, and how video technology is used in criminal proceedings is kept under regular review by HMCTS.

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) have published a large-scale multi-method evaluation of remote hearings during the pandemic.

The study aimed to understand who attended remote hearings; how public users, the judiciary, legal representatives, HMCTS staff, intermediaries, support staff, and observers experienced remote hearings; and the perceptions and attitudes of these stakeholders towards remote hearings. This evaluation can be found here.

More broadly, MoJ is currently conducting an evaluation of the HMCTS Reform programme. The evaluation will consider the effect of reform on fairness, access to justice and cost to users. This includes a process evaluation of the Video Hearings Service, which will explore how the hearings worked in practice and the perceptions and experiences of the parties involved, including the barriers faced and support required.

Judicial decisions on whether to hold a hearing remotely are informed by the criminal procedure rules and criminal practice directions. The Department and HMCTS will continue to review the use of remote hearings.