Written questions by Sewards.

What guidance is issued on (a) moving cases between Crown Court centres and (b) prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants or safeguarding risks.

Awaiting answer.

What steps the Department is taking to reduce delays for court cases involving child or vulnerable witnesses.

Awaiting answer.

What the (a) average and (b) maximum time was between the completion of Section 28 pre‑recorded cross‑examination and the start of trial in Crown Court cases in each of the last five years.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Legal Aid Agency in ensuring solicitors use qualified and security‑vetted interpreters in legally‑aided family proceedings.

Interpreters play a crucial role in family court proceedings, ensuring that individuals who do not speak English or have hearing impairments can fully participate and understand the legal process. For most family court proceedings, His Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Services is responsible for securing interpreters for use during hearings. Neither legal aid providers nor the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) are involved in this process. A legal aid solicitor may instruct an interpreter for use outside of hearings. All providers who undertake legal aid work are independent providers of legal aid services and are subject to oversight and regulation by relevant professional bodies rather than the LAA. When instructing interpreters in legal aid cases, legal aid providers must ensure that they adhere to the requirements set out under paragraphs 2.48-2.51 of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract: Specification. This includes provisions regarding the level of qualification that the interpreter must hold and the evidence which must be obtained and retained on file regarding this and the circumstances in which it is permissible to instruct a non-qualified interpreter. The LAA undertakes a range of audit and assurance activity to ensure legal aid providers are complying with their contractual obligations. Clause 24 of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract: Standard Terms empowers the LAA to apply a sanction where breaches of contract are identified. These contractual provisions act as an effective safeguard to ensure the most appropriate interpreter is used having regard to the specific circumstances of the case.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing sentences for offenders guilty of unlawful act manslaughter.

Parliament is responsible for setting the overall legal sentencing framework and the maximum penalty for unlawful act manslaughter is life imprisonment.However, sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose the courts take into account the circumstances of the offence and any aggravating and mitigating factors in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to allow victims of crime to express impact statements to convicted people directly.

As set out in the Victims’ Code, victims and survivors have the right to make a Victim Personal Statement (VPS) to explain in their own words how a crime has affected them. The judge or magistrate will decide whether and what sections of a personal statement should be read aloud at the sentencing hearing. The judge or magistrate will always take the victim’s preference into account when making their decision, unless there is good reason not to do so. The entitlement to make a VPS at the sentencing hearing is enabled by a Criminal Practice Direction; this provides guidance to judges and specifies that the court will take the VPS into account when determining sentence, as well as additional procedure surrounding the VPS.Where the statement is read out and the offender is at the sentencing hearing they will hear the statement directly. We recognise that for some victims and survivors it may be distressing where the offender is not at the hearing and the Government is committed to legislating to require offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, so that criminals hear first-hand the impacts of their crime and victims, survivors and bereaved family members of deceased victims see criminals face the consequences of their actions. This measure will be included in the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, which the Government intends to introduce in the first parliamentary session.