Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)

Tuesday Volume 688 2 February 2021 No. 170 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 2 February 2021 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 813 2 FEBRUARY 2021 814 we are getting the justice system back on its feet following House of Commons the very substantial and understandable challenges that coronavirus has presented. Tuesday 2 February 2021 Lilian Greenwood [V]: The Minister already knows that Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner, The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock the chief constable and I are all extremely concerned about the delays in bringing serious criminal cases to trial and the failure to establish a Nightingale court in PRAYERS Nottinghamshire. I look forward to the discussion that he promised last week, but all Members will want to [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] understand why progress is so slow. The Minister talked about 40 courts being open now and 60 by the end of Virtual participation in proceedings commenced March, but Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (Orders, 4 June and 30 December 2020). said that 200 would be needed; what is preventing him [NB: [V] denotes a Member participating virtually.] from addressing that problem? How much investment has the Treasury earmarked for Nightingale courts? Chris Philp: On the question of investment, I have Oral Answers to Questions already said that in the current financial year we have spent an extra quarter of a billion pounds on justice recovery. We are hiring an extra 1,600 HMCTS staff JUSTICE and we have more Crown court jury trial rooms operating than we did before the pandemic. I am, of course, carefully studying the proposals for Nightingale courts The Secretary of State was asked— in Nottingham and look forward to a conversation with the hon. Member on that topic in the near future. Nightingale Courts In terms of speeding up the system, even before coronavirus hit us we had increased expenditure on the Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab): What progress Crown Prosecution Service by £85 million a year, hiring he has made on planning for the (a) opening and (b) an extra 400 prosecutors, and we are on track to hire an operation of Nightingale courts. [911684] extra 20,000 police officers. Our commitment not only to dealing with coronavirus but to speeding up the Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab): What justice system more generally is clear for all to see. progress he has made on planning for the (a) opening and (b) operation of Nightingale courts. [911692] Mr Speaker: Chorley is always ready to help the Minister as well. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Philp): Coronavirus has had an enormous effect Sir Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con) [V]: globally and on public services in this country, which is The extra investment is important and should be recognised, why this year we have invested an extra quarter of a and Nightingale courts can make an important addition billion pounds to facilitate court recovery.As an important to court capacity, but does my hon. Friend the Minister part of that we have already, as of today, opened up agree that most Nightingale courts are not equipped to 40 additional Nightingale courtrooms, with a further 20 handle custody cases and therefore many of the most to open by the end of March. serious trials? Is not the long-term solution sustained investment, over a period of months and years, to make Daniel Zeichner [V]: But there are huge delays in the sure that all available physical Crown courts sit the justice system. Her Majesty’s justice chief inspectors maximum number of days that they can safely sit, and report 53,000 cases waiting to come before Crown courts. to ensure that there are resources in terms of judiciary, In Cambridgeshire, housing associations tell me that support staff and a safe environment for court users, to when they file papers for community protection notices, make sure that that can be done? Is that not the top they are frequently lost or not even opened. Will the priority? Minister tell me exactly how many Nightingale courts are hearing criminal trials today, and how many will be by the end of 2021? Chris Philp: As he is so often, my hon. Friend the Chair of the Justice Committee is correct. Often when a Chris Philp: In relation to criminal cases, I am pleased Nightingale court is set up, it does not have the required to report to the House that since August last year, every custody facilities, but it does free up space in our single month, relentlessly, the number of disposals in existing Crown court estate, which does have custody the magistrates court has exceeded receipts, so the facilities, and allow more Crown court or jury trials in outstanding caseload in magistrates courts has been which the defendant is remanded to take place in existing declining relentlessly since August, as the system has facilities. recovered. We now have more than 290 effective Crown Crown court sitting days are very important. We have court jury trials, which is more than we had before the been clear that in the current financial year Crown pandemic, and just before Christmas disposals exceeded court sitting days should not impose any constraints on receipts for the first time during the pandemic. That listing and sitting cases. The situation for the coming quarter-of-a-billion-pound investment is working and financial year,starting in April, is the subject of discussions 815 Oral Answers 2 FEBRUARY 2021 Oral Answers 816 between my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor and prison leavers; and £70 million investment to cut reoffending the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, but it by supporting people from prison into accommodation. is fair to say that we are expecting a substantial increase in Crown court sitting days. Bob Blackman [V]: My hon. and learned Friend will know that, under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab): The Government’s it is the duty of prison governors to enable people answer to the question about the scale of the crisis in leaving prison to have a secure roof over their heads, so our justice system is that the backlog has been higher in that they are not tempted to reoffend. I welcome the the past, but the Minister knows that this is just a package of measures that has been introduced. Can she distraction. In 2010, Crown court cases took, on average, go further and explain the roll-out that will take place 391 days to complete. By 2019, the Government had so that we can ensure that every person leaving prison is closed half of the courts and had 27,000 fewer sitting offered safe and secure accommodation, and is not days, meaning that each case took an average of 511 days. tempted to return to a life of crime? A total of 30% fewer cases were completed, but they took 75% longer. Each year that the Minister’s party is Lucy Frazer: I thank my hon. Friend for his question in government, justice for victims is further delayed. and, indeed, for the superb work that he has done in How can he be so complacent, announcing just 40 extra introducing the Homelessness Reduction Act. I commend rooms? We have 20 Nightingale courts and the head of him for his work in this area. He is right to reiterate the Her Majesty’s Courts Service said that we needed 200. £70 million that we have put in to ensure that prisoners When are we going to get them? do not end up on the streets. That builds on what we have been doing throughout the pandemic: we have Chris Philp: A range of other measures are being been operating an £11.5 million scheme to get people used, not least the roll-out of the cloud video platform, into accommodation from prison. That and other measures which led last week to more than 20,000 remote hearings will continue to ensure that we cut crime and that across all jurisdictions, and, as I have said, 290 jury people do not reoffend. court rooms, which is more than we had before. The right hon. Gentleman asked about the past, but he James Sunderland: It is important to support former rather conveniently skated over the fact that the outstanding prisoners, who sadly include ex-armed forces personnel, caseload in the Crown court before the pandemic in to ensure that they do not reoffend. Can my hon. and 2020 was 39,000, whereas in 2010, under the last Labour learned Friend please reassure me that her Department Government, it was 47,000. He asked about the number is committed to supporting probation services and the of cases and the number of cases being disposed of, but fine work that they do? he neglected to mention that crime, according to the Lucy Frazer: I am very pleased to commend the work crime survey—the only Office for National Statistics- of the probation service, which has been doing important certified source of statistics—had fallen from 9.5 million work at this time. We are supporting it with the finances cases in 2010 to 5.6 million in 2020 under a Conservative that it needs, with increased funding of an additional Government delivering reductions in crime. I notice £155 million per year, making a total of more than that, last week, the shadow Justice Secretary talked £1 billion for our probation services.

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