Written questions by Ward.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of jury service on people employed on zero hour contracts.

Jury service is an important civic duty, and we want to help jurors feel supported as they undertake this important role. The Government has not made any specific assessment of the impact of jury service on people employed on zero-hour contracts. However, all employees including those employed on zero-hour contracts are legally protected from dismissal or unfair treatment due to jury service under the Employment Rights Act 1996. All employees who are summoned for jury service are entitled to renumerations for travel, subsistence and loss of earnings expenses, including those on zero-hour contracts. They can also apply for a deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship. The Government keeps all support provided to jurors throughout their service under review.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce average waiting times to access independent tribunals to hear appeals from parents against Child Maintenance Service decisions.

Appeals against Child Maintenance Service decisions are heard by the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, which is part of the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. Reducing the outstanding caseload is the key measure to bring down the waiting times for tribunal hearings. We are currently focused on reducing the outstanding caseload in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. HM Courts & Tribunals Service continues to invest in improving tribunal productivity through the recruitment of additional Judges, the deployment of Legal Officers to actively manage cases, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology as appropriate. If an expedited hearing is requested, a Judge or Legal Officer will make a decision on that issue, taking all the circumstances into account. Data on Tribunals performance is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. Receipts, disposals and the outstanding caseload for individual Chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal, the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

What the average processing time for the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme was in each of the last five years.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is responsible for implementing the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. CICA recognises that timely compensation can help victims in their recovery both practically and emotionally and is committed to deciding 40% of new applications within 6 months of receiving the application, and 70% within 12 months. CICA performance information is available in the CICA Annual Report and Accounts; the latest version can be found at CICA Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.The following table shows the average number of days from an application being received until a decision is made. This information is taken from the latest period for which data is available which can be found here: Statistics at CICA - Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Financial YearAverage days to decision 2023-243612022-233912021-223862020-213372019-20363