Member

On the second part of the right honourable Gentleman’s question, the vast majority of cases—the less serious but still important everyday cases, which comprise around 90% of all criminal trials—are already heard in our magistrates’ courts, where cases continue to be dealt with swiftly and robustly. Our magistrates hear around 1.3 million cases a year, and it is not unusual to have an open caseload of more than 360,000 cases, as is currently the case in our magistrates’ courts. That ensures that there is around six months’ worth of work ready to be heard. We know that our magistrates’ courts deal with equivalent cases—those trials for either-way cases that can be heard in either the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court—four times faster. We are working to bring in new and diverse magistrates over the next 12 months, and we will continue to recruit at high levels in future years.