Written questions by Davies.

How many Crown Court judges there were resident at Shrewsbury Crown Court in each of the last six years.

The Crown Court sitting at Shrewsbury is accommodated across two sites, in Shrewsbury Justice Centre and Telford Justice Centre. In total, there are three courtrooms dedicated to Crown Court use.For each of the last six years (i.e. since 2019/20), two Circuit Judges have been based permanently at the venue. Additional judges are and have been deployed to ensure sufficient capacity exists to meet sitting day and listing requirements.On 29 October, it was announced that a new Circuit Judge will be deployed to sit at Shrewsbury from 13 January, succeeding a salaried judge who retired in July and bringing the permanent complement back to two salaried judges.

How many justices of the peace served at Telford Magistrates Court in each of the last six years.

Magistrates that sit at Telford Magistrates’ Court are appointed to the Shropshire Bench. The Shropshire Bench covers Telford and Kidderminster Magistrates Court and the magistrates may be required to sit at any of these courts. The table below shows the number of magistrates on the Shropshire Bench (existing members and new appointments) for the years requested:202476202375202282202187202082201991The Staffordshire and West Mercia Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace’s recruitment plans are published here: Advisory Committee Recruitment Plan - Magistrates Recruitment.

Whether she plans to use remote court hearings to ease the burden on the courts system.

The decision to hold a hearing remotely, or enable participants to attend remotely, rests with the judiciary. HM Courts and Tribunal Service continues to support and enable remote hearings by optimising the courts and tribunals estate and building technological capability. This empowers the judiciary to conduct remote and hybrid hearings at their discretion, allowing for increased accessibility and flexibility in the day-to-day business of courts and tribunals.

What the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) her Department, (b) HM Courts and Tribunals Service and (c) HM Prison and Probation Service was in each of the last three years.

The average length of paternity leave taken across the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for each of the last three years is 14 calendar days. The breakdown as per the request is as follows: Average number of days of paternity leave taken by staff in MoJ, HMCTS and HMPPS MoJHMCTSHMPPS01/07/2021 to 30/06/202214141401/07/2022 to 30/06/202314141401/07/2023 to 30/06/2024141414 Note: This includes those with an Absence Category of ‘Paternity Birth’ on the department’s HR database.Note: Records assigned to the relevant year by the Absence Start Date.

What estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse for moving magistrates court remand hearings from Shropshire Magistrates Court in Telford; and if she will hold discussions with His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service on reinstating remand hearings at that court.

The decision to centralise remand hearings in the West Mercia area was a judicial decision taken by the local Judicial Business Group in 2017 following full public consultation. The decision was based on remand court volumes prevailing at the time, and enabled other courts in the area to improve efficiency and trial timeliness to the benefit of victims and witnesses. The position has recently been reviewed and based on current workload volumes, the Judicial Business Group has agreed to return Shropshire remand cases back to Telford Magistrates Court. Implementation of this decision is underway.

What the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average time taken was between the Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing and the first trial date at Shrewsbury Crown Court for people who had pleaded not guilty to charges of (i) sexual offences, (ii) violent domestic abuse, (iii) other types of domestic abuse and (iv) other violent offences at Shrewsbury Crown Court in each of the last five years for which data is available.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

How many offenders released on licence at the 40% point of their sentence were convicted of (a) one and (b) more than one breach of restraining orders.

The Government inherited a crisis in our criminal justice system, with prisons on the point of collapse. As a result, we were forced to take the difficult but necessary step to move certain release points for prisoners serving eligible standard determinate sentences (SDSs) from 50% to 40%. Public protection is our priority, so we have important exclusions from this change, notably certain serious violent, sexual, national security and domestic abuse connected offences. These exclusions included the Breach of Restraining Order (BoRO) offence under Section 363 of the Sentencing Act 2020 passed by the previous Government. It became clear that a repealed piece of legislation was being incorrectly used in a small number of cases. This created an anomaly, which meant 37 offenders were released under a repealed offence. These 37 offenders have now been returned to custody.Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.