Court Transcript Costs

11 Mar

Question

In the House of Commons session titled 'Court Transcript Costs', significant debates centered on reducing court transcript expenses for victims. The government's pilot schemes aimed at offering free sentencing remarks to victims of rape, sexual offenses, and serious crimes like murder, manslaughter, and fatal road offenses were thoroughly discussed. Concerns were raised about limited awareness of schemes, which impacted victim participation. Efforts to expand technological application for cost minimization were acknowledged, with emphasis on the ongoing one-year pilot ending in May. This scheme's accessibility to victims was heavily scrutinized, drawing particular attention to its impact on closure for affected individuals.

Government efforts to increase awareness successful

Enhanced communication raised application numbers.

Outcome

The session concluded with assurances on improved pilot communication and exploration of findings to assess future implementations. It marked a commitment to transparency and increased scheme access for victims, reflecting ongoing governmental accountability measures.

Key Contributions

Liz JarvisMember of Parliament

Liberal Democrats

Inquired about the steps taken to lower court transcript costs.

Sarah Sackman

Acknowledged initial uptake issues in pilot schemes.

Original Transcript

Liz Jarvis

Eastleigh

Question

UIN: 903111

4. What steps she is taking to reduce the cost of court transcripts for victims.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

Sarah Sackman

11:30

The Government recognise just how important accessing transcripts can be for certain victims. That is why transcripts of sentencing remarks are available free of charge to the families of victims of fatal road offences, murder and manslaughter.

It is also why this Government are running a one-year pilot that offers free sentencing remarks to victims of rape and sexual offences. That is due to conclude in May. We are also looking in the round at how we lower the cost of obtaining a court transcript through increased use of technology.

Liz Jarvis

The previous Government launched a pilot scheme to provide free sentencing remarks to victims of sexual violence. However, thousands of eligible survivors only found out about it months after it started. Poor communication meant that victims missed out on the opportunity for some closure.

Will the Justice Secretary confirm whether the pilot has been properly evaluated, whether its findings will be made public, and what steps will be taken to improve awareness and accessibility for those who need to use the scheme?

Sarah Sackman

The hon. Member is absolutely right that initially there was not enough uptake. The Government acted to drum up awareness of the scheme precisely because we want to test its effectiveness for victims of rape and serious sexual offences. I reassure her that application numbers are up.

We are conducting the evaluation, and once we have the results, we will be able to test whether we can implement the scheme in the future.

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