Speeches by Sackman.

“I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman agrees that this is a matter of concern, although it is clearly not a concern that is shared by the Front Benchers in his party. Our understanding is that some 700 individual cases, at least, were shared with the AI company. We have sought to understand what more may have been sh…”

“My hon. Friend has asked a very good question. It is vital for people to know what goes on in our courts, and local reporting of what happens there matters to wider society and, indeed, to our democracy. We recognise that Courtsdesk provided a useful service for journalists in collating information and presenting it in…”

“The answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is that the report to the ICO has not yet been made. I raised the matter with our data officer, and the conclusion—the advice that I was given—was that it did not meet the threshold for an ICO referral. I have asked for that to be looked at again, but what is clear, and Court…”

“I thank my hon. Friend, who has spoken on a number of occasions about his horrific experience, and I think I speak for all in this House when I say that that takes a lot of courage. What he says about the impacts on people of delays in our courts and how knowledge of that is putting off people reporting or continuing w…”

“I am sorry to hear about the case the hon. Lady raises. County court rules require that possession claims be listed for hearing within eight weeks of receipt and, in the main, we are hitting that target. Readiness for the coming into force of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 will be important, as will the modernising intro…”

“As I have told the House repeatedly, we will publish the modelling and evidence base in the usual way, alongside the Bill’s introduction. However, it is simply incorrect to say there is no evidence that adjusting the threshold will reduce court delays; we have the evidence base of the independent review, as well as int…”

“This Government inherited a criminal justice system on the brink of collapse, with record and rising backlogs now touching 80,000, and behind each and every one of those cases is a real victim. That is why we asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an independent review of criminal courts and why we are making investment …”

“The hon. Gentleman will know that justice is a devolved matter. I am content for him to write to me, and I will look into this specific case. However, justice is, of course, a devolved matter.”

“We will update the House when that is ready for implementation. The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the importance of training when it comes to domestic abuse cases. Judicial training is an independent function run by the Judicial College. Domestic abuse training, and particularly a trauma-informed approach to evi…”

“Of course, that is one of the contributory factors to the issues in our courts, although not the only one—again, we must look at all these things. We await part 2 of Sir Brian Leveson’s report, but in the meantime I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Prisons Minister and I are looking at these contracts so that we …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising that case; it is a graphic illustration of the crisis that we are grappling with and the impact it is having. Those delays cause trauma, making it impossible for victims to move on with their lives. What are we doing about it? The fact that over 1,000 trials were cancelled last year b…”

“The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The workforce has been depleted by repeated cuts to legal aid and people choosing more lucrative and attractive areas of work. What are we doing? We have said that we will invest an additional £34 million in legal aid for criminal advocates, and we are also providing match fundin…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that case, and I would of course be happy to meet him. Again, it is a graphic illustration of the ways in which the delays in the process are re-traumatising victims, which is why we must do everything in our power to bring down the delays—whether that is investment, modernis…”

“Chris, you have been responsible for developing the modelling that parliamentarians will see. I wonder if it is worth you explaining that that is based on historical data from actual individual cases. Obviously people will want to unpack that when they see the modelling.”

“I can certainly provide a follow-up letter, but just to be clear, I do not know that I regard retrospective as quite the right term here. No one is suggesting that a trial that has commenced or that has gone past PTPH—”

“It does to some extent, and I will bring in Amy here.”

“As I said in an earlier answer, I do not say—and I do not need to say—that jury trials per se are the primary driver of delay. But within that structure, if you take equivalent cases that could be tried either way—that is the easiest comparator—so they could be addressed in the magistrates court before a district judge…”

“Just to complete that point, that is not the only source of inefficiency. We heard from the previous panel that a major constraint and source of inefficiency is lost time and lost sitting days due to the lack of availability in the workforce. That is a major driver, which is why that has been an area of focus for the G…”

“That is the position, because that is the mechanism for pursuing what was needed, which was the urgent implementation of these changes.”

“We will, as is usual practice, provide Parliament with the impact assessment, which will include modelling, and an equality impact assessment. It will include our formal response to Brian Leveson’s reports. As part of that, this Committee will no doubt be able to scrutinise what the Government are putting forward, and …”