PQ: 26 June 2025

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-06-23.61811.h

Magistrates' Courts: Interpreters

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 26 June 2025.

Robert Jenrick Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times an interpreter was requested in criminal cases in magistrates’ courts since July 2024; and in how many of those cases the interpreter did not attend.

Sarah Sackman The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

 

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-06-23.61813.h

Magistrates' Courts: Interpreters and Vacancies

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 26 June 2025.

Robert Jenrick Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) staffing shortages and (b) interpreter availability on delays in magistrates’ courts.

Sarah Sackman The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice does not collect data on ineffective trials specifically caused by staffing shortages within HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). However, we monitor staffing levels closely and do not assess them to be a significant driver of ineffective trials in magistrates’ courts.

Staffing levels across HMCTS have remained broadly stable, with administrative staffing at junior grades (AA–EO) holding steady, and staffing at more senior grades (HEO–G6), including legal and administrative roles, showing an upward trend. These patterns reflect continued investment in workforce capacity and ongoing recruitment activity.

We recognise the importance of a reliable and efficient court system, and the impact on victims when trials do not proceed as planned. That is why the Lord Chancellor has appointed Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Phase 2 of the review will consider the efficiency and timeliness of processes of the criminal courts through charge to conviction/acquittal.

The Ministry of Justice regularly monitors the impact of interpreter availability on court proceedings. According to the latest data published in the “Trial effectiveness in the courts” tool (covering up to December 2024), there were 364 ineffective trials in magistrates’ courts between July and December 2024 due to the unavailability of an interpreter. This represents 4% of all ineffective trials and less than 1% of all listed trials during that period.

 

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-06-23.61810.h

Magistrates' Courts

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 26 June 2025.

Robert Jenrick Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal trials in magistrates’ courts were delayed or adjourned due to (a) the late arrival of prison vans, (b) administrative errors and (c) the absence of an interpreter since July 2024.

Robert Jenrick Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the proportion of magistrates’ court trials listed that did not go ahead on the scheduled day since July 2024; and what the primary recorded reasons were for such delays.

Sarah Sackman The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of ineffective trials at the magistrates’ courts across England and Wales in the “Trial effective in the courts” data tool (latest to December 2024). This can be downloaded from the Criminal Court Statistics landing page here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics.

 

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2025-06-18.HL8567.h

Ministry of Justice: Translation Services

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 26 June 2025.

Lord Agnew of Oulton Conservative

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Justice has spent in each year since 2020 under the RM6141 and RM6302 language services frameworks; and whether the department has used or maintained any separate or competing frameworks, contracts or commercial routes for the procurement of language services during the same period, and, if so, how much has been spent through them.

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Ministry of Justice has not called off against Crown Commercial Service frameworks RM 6141 (Language Services) or its successor RM 6302 at any point since 2020; spend under both frameworks in every year is therefore £0. The timing of available frameworks did not align with the Department’s needs. Timelines have since been aligned for the following round of tendering.

Instead, the Department has continued to meet its interpretation and translation needs through its MoJ Language-Services Framework, first established in 2012 and re-let in 2016 following open competition. Courts also operate a non-contracted, or “off-contract” process, typically to cover requirements that arise at short notice and those that are more challenging to fulfil, such as the requirement for languages that are rare or scarce. The use of off-contract interpreters allows hearings to go ahead, to continue the delivery of justice. The next generation of contracts, currently being procured, include the use of a secondary supplier of interpreters, specifically to source those short notice bookings, and to bring this spend on-contract, with benefits such as improved data and value for money. Furthermore, we are the only organisation to also utilise an independent quality assurance supplier of these services.

The arrangement is open for other public-sector bodies to use, but is let independently of the CCS frameworks so that the Ministry of Justice can:

·      specify specialist justice-sector safeguarding and quality-assurance requirements (for example, security-vetting, enhanced complaints handling and independent quality sampling);

·      obtain greater transparency of performance data to support quarterly published statistics; and

·      secure competitive pricing based on the Ministry of Justice’s high-volume demand profile.

Expenditure recorded against the MoJ framework since 2020 is below:

Year	Contracted Expenditure	Off-Contract expenditure	Total Expenditure
2020	£20,217,548	£1,193,788	£21,411,336
2021	£25,062,618	£2,157,759	£27,220,377
2022	£26,883,747	£4,856,616	£31,740,363
2023	£30,374,050	£6,565,781	£36,939,831
2024	£31,625,158	£7,037,731	£38,662,889