Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) customer service, (b) accessibility and (c) the ability of users to speak to a human operator in its court telephone system.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is taking steps to improve the service it provides Court and Tribunal users, for example, through the delivery of the Service Improvement Framework which focuses on written communications, telephone call handling, complaint handling and public facing information. This will be in place from April 2026.
HMCTS has developed an Accessibility Strategy following a Government Internal Audit Agency recommendation in September 2024 and is building an action plan to support delivery of the strategy.
HMCTS’ new digital services are designed and built to be simple, accessible, and easy to use. HMCTS has a digital support service to help those who are digitally excluded (based on access, skills or confidence) to complete digital forms. HMCTS digital services are required to comply with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018, under the Equality Act 2018. Our digital services are tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 AA Standard to make sure they comply with the regulations.
To improve call handling within HMCTS, some services, including Crime Magistrates, Civil and Family, have migrated call handling from local Courts into National Service centres. This change was made in recognition that a more efficient and consistent service can be delivered through modern technology and centrally managed, dedicated contact centre teams.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps courts take to comply with data protection laws.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. The Department is the data controller for HMCTS data, and the Ministry of Justice Data Protection Officer (DPO) covers HMCTS.
HMCTS has a Data Protection Governance team which works closely with the Ministry of Justice DPO, to maintain a Data Protection Framework. The framework supports HMCTS staff to discharge their duties in compliance with data protection laws. HMCTS publishes Personal Information Charters for court and tribunal users, to help them understand how HMCTS uses and protects personal data. The HMCTS Personal Information Charters can be found here.
HMCTS maintains Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) for processing activities and produces data sharing agreements where HMCTS data is shared with partners across the justice system.
All HMCTS staff must complete annual mandatory data security training which covers handling and protecting personal data. These measures ensure that courts uphold high standards in the handling and protection of personal data in accordance with data protection legislation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many phone calls to court phone numbers are unanswered on average per day; and what is this number as a percentage of all calls.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are unable to provide data on calls made to local Court and Tribunal venues. However, HM Courts & Tribunals Service regularly publishes data on calls made to service centres which can be found through the following link: HMCTS management information – modernised services - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been employed to answer phone enquiries for the High Court in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) HR does not hold information relating to people employed to answer phone enquiries for the High Court. This is because answering telephone enquiries is a responsibility spanning multiple different role profiles.
No HMCTS role has the sole responsibility of answering telephone enquiries in its entirety, and so the word “telephone” or “phone” does not feature in any job titles.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to (a) remove the cap on the number of days courts can sit, (b) help ensure prisoners are transported to court on time, (c) hold discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service on the removal of cases from the backlog, (d) help support the recruitment of more public sector barristers and (e) help ensure that court buildings are fit for purpose.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a record and rising open caseload of nearly 80,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard and too many victims waiting years for justice.
In the Crown Court for this financial year (2025/26), we are funding 111,250 sitting days – the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous Government funded for the last financial year. The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2026-27, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament. We will provide Parliament with an update on the sitting day allocations in the usual way at the conclusion of the Concordat process.
Prisoners should be produced on time and we are committed to making improvements where we can. Prisoner transport delivery is regularly reviewed and a significant number of contract changes have been made already to adapt to the changing operational requirement. But even if every prison van ran like clockwork tomorrow, we would still be left with a backlog edging towards 100,000 cases. Prisoner transport delays are a symptom of a stretched system, not a cure for it.
There is no quick fix to the criminal courts crisis, and no single lever that can be pulled. It is vital that all system partners work together to deliver swifter justice for victims. We continue to talk to system partners, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), to consider options, including those in Sir Brian Leveson’s Part I report on criminal court reform. In June 2025, the Chancellor announced a landmark increase of £96 million (RDELex) in additional funding for the CPS over the spending review period 2026-2029. This will help CPS protect victims by tackling the backlog, speeding up justice, and delivering a justice system that services victims.
We are investing up to an additional £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We are also taking forward Sir Brian’s recommendation to match-fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages, with a particular focus on opening a career at the criminal Bar to even more young people from across society.
This Government has also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing £148.5 million in court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous Government funded last financial year.
But investment alone is not enough – that is why this Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. On 2 December, the Deputy Prime Minister responded to the first part of that review and set out why structural court reform is necessary, alongside investment and modernisation.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of measures to support the victims of theft of a driving licence.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring support is available for victims, so that those affected by crime, including theft, can access the help they need throughout the justice process.
That is why, in total, the Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date.
This includes annual grant funding to the 42 Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas across England and Wales, who commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic services based on an assessment of need in their area.
Within this envelope, we will be increasing funding for victim support services year on year, from 2026 to 2029, recognising the need to meet the rising cost pressures of delivery.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report on the Southport attack by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new offence of planning a mass casualty attack.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government accepts and strongly supports the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s (IRTL) recommendation to consider creating a new offence to capture individuals intending to kill multiple people and planning for such attacks. As recognised by the IRTL, this is a complex area of law and will require working through difficult legal and ethical issues to avoid unintended consequences. We are considering carefully the best way to close the gap in the legislation.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 92757, what steps he is taking to ensure sufficient capacity to meet the anticipated additional demand; and whether those improvements will be in place prior to implementation of the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To prepare for the anticipated demands of the Renters’ Rights Act, we have launched a significant programme of work. This includes recruiting additional administrative staff, establishing a centralised operational hub, and updating our operational processes to improve efficiency. We are also ensuring the availability of suitable estates capacity for hearings and enhancing our technology systems to support the increased workload. We expect these measures to be in place in time for implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act.
We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of around 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all courts and tribunals, with specific recruitment for the judges and members needed for the Property Chamber. Further recruitment in 2026 is planned.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2024 to Question 14399 on Offenders: Electronic Tagging, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of alcohol monitoring tags in reducing the level of alcohol related reoffending.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Department keeps the use of alcohol monitoring under review and has commissioned a programme of evaluations to assess impact on compliance and reoffending. For community sentences, compliance with court‑imposed alcohol bans is high. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of over 97% for days monitored, since introduction, as shown here: Electronic Monitoring MI Publication, June 2025 - GOV.UK.
For post‑custody use, we published the Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) process and interim impact evaluation in October 2025, linked here: Alcohol monitoring on licence: process and interim impact evaluation - GOV.UK.
Enforcement decisions are recorded within individual probation case management records and are taken on a case‑by‑case basis by supervising practitioners. To collate this locally held information could only be done at a disproportionate cost. Non‑compliance can lead to proportionate enforcement ranging from further engagement with the person on probation through formal warnings and breach action, up to recall where risk or persistent non‑compliance warrants it.
We publish regular Alcohol Monitoring Statistics. The latest publication sets out statistics on AAMR orders and the use of AML orders from 31 July 2025 to 30 November 2025 and can be found here: Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many alerts were triggered by alcohol monitoring tags in December 2024; and what proportion of those alerts resulted in enforcement action, including recall to prison and return to court.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Department keeps the use of alcohol monitoring under review and has commissioned a programme of evaluations to assess impact on compliance and reoffending. For community sentences, compliance with court‑imposed alcohol bans is high. Published statistics show a compliance rate with the ban of over 97% for days monitored, since introduction, as shown here: Electronic Monitoring MI Publication, June 2025 - GOV.UK.
For post‑custody use, we published the Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) process and interim impact evaluation in October 2025, linked here: Alcohol monitoring on licence: process and interim impact evaluation - GOV.UK.
Enforcement decisions are recorded within individual probation case management records and are taken on a case‑by‑case basis by supervising practitioners. To collate this locally held information could only be done at a disproportionate cost. Non‑compliance can lead to proportionate enforcement ranging from further engagement with the person on probation through formal warnings and breach action, up to recall where risk or persistent non‑compliance warrants it.
We publish regular Alcohol Monitoring Statistics. The latest publication sets out statistics on AAMR orders and the use of AML orders from 31 July 2025 to 30 November 2025 and can be found here: Ad-Hoc Alcohol Monitoring Statistics Publication, Dec 2025 - GOV.UK.