Written questions by Perkins.

How many court days were lost in 2025 due to non-delivery of remanded prisoners to court by courier firms by a) prison held in, b) contracted courier company, c) Crown Court and d) Magistrates court.

Data on the number of trials declared ineffective due to the non-production of defendants can be found here: Trial effectiveness at the Criminal Courts tool.In the most recent reported quarter (July to September 2025), non-production of defendants accounted for 2% of ineffective trials in the Crown Court and 4% of ineffective trials in the magistrates’ court.Securing data on the impact that non-production of defendants has had on sitting time would come at a disproportionate cost, due to the time required to process this information.

What the average length of time was between charge and trial in a) rape, b) murder and c) GBH cases in each year between 2009 and 2025 for each court in England.

Data showing the time from charge to main hearing for defendants dealt with for the selected offences following the entry of a not guilty plea at the Crown Court from 2016 to 2024 can be found in the attached tables. Data is not available for years prior to 2016. Data has been provided at the lowest geographical level of our published Accredited Official Statistics, Local Criminal Justice Board Level (LCJB).Please note that many of the averages are based on very small volumes of defendants and as such the figures should be treated with caution.Our published timeliness metrics are produced at a sufficiently 'high' level to reduce the volatility and fluctuations associated with low volumes of cases i.e. offence groups. Where court level offence breakdowns are based on fewer than five cases in these tables, timeliness values are suppressed as they are particularly volatile and can be misleading.

How many magistrates served in a) magistrate courts and b) family courts in each year between 2009 and 2025.

Magistrates are the cornerstone of our long and established judicial System. The extraordinary voluntary commitment given by individuals across England and Wales, giving up their valuable free time to make a difference to our Justice system is incredible.The earliest data we have is 2018, when we had a total of 14,008 magistrates. Currently, we have 14,466 magistrates sitting in crime and family.Year Total number of Magistrates - Adult Total number of Magistrates - Family Total number of Magistrates 201813171288014008201912877275213712202012451288113510202111945283913090202211882292613195202311909296713319202412490348914458202512366355414466

How many court days were lost in 2025 due to the unavailability of courtrooms as a result of building failures by a) crown court, b) magistrates court and c) family court.

The number of court days lost due to building failures in the last full financial year (2024/25) is as follows:Crown Court – 258 daysMagistrates’ Court – 36 daysFamily Court – 2 daysTo put this into context, over the same period we sat over 107,000 days in the Crown Court.A lost court day is defined as a planned sitting day consisting of two sessions (one morning, one afternoon session) that is cancelled, adjourned or unable to proceed due to unforeseen circumstances, structural issues or scheduling conflicts. The figures above reflect court days lost due to building failures only. Workforce shortages are also a major cause of lost time: in 2024, over 1,000 trials were cancelled owing to a lack of counsel, which is why we are investing further in legal aid and match funding pupillages for criminal barristers.Thanks to the efforts of court staff and the judiciary, where a building failure occurs, losing court days can often be averted through our ability to move cases to another courtroom or nearby court building, or by using remote hearing arrangements.It is vital that court infrastructure does not prevent hearings from taking place, that is why we announced a boost in court capital maintenance and project funding from £120 million in 2024/25, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.

If she will ensure that independent celebrants are included in the Government response to the Law Commission’s report entitled Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law, published on 18 July 2022.

The Law Commission’s 2022 report on weddings made 57 recommendations for reform of weddings law, including how independent celebrants could conduct legally binding weddings. The Government appreciates the importance of this issue and will provide an update in due course.

What the average cost to prisoners is of the provision of television access in prison cells.

The cost per prisoner in establishments in the adult estate is 50 pence per week if the prisoner is sharing a cell, and £1 per week for prisoners in a single cell.Children and young people in the youth secure estate are not charged for use of televisions.