I refer the Hon. Member to the announcement on this subject made by my rt. Hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 5 August 2026, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-community-mental-health-support-across-england

The hon. Gentleman has previously told me about Matty and the impact that that had on him. I totally understand that, and I want to be absolutely clear that nobody should be smeared in relation to mental health—nobody—on any issue, whatever they may argue on any other issue. I will do everything I can to make sure that that is the position.

The hon. Gentleman makes his point with real force. However, he never talks about victims, and has not explained how we should bring down the backlog. The truth is that we are determined to bring down the backlog, and that is why—[Interruption.]

The Government offers its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the events referred to in these questions.

Local authorities are independent employers, responsible for the recruitment and management of Environmental Health Officers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Environmental Health Officers have no statutory role relating to funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment or collected data on regulatory gaps, environmental health standards, or the merits of inspection relating to funeral directors, but are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who are leading the government response to the Fuller Inquiry. An interim update on the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations was published in December 2025, and DHSC has committed to publishing the Government’s full response in summer 2026. That response will set out the Government’s position on any potential future changes to oversight or regulation of the funeral sector.

The Government offers its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the events referred to in these questions.

Local authorities are independent employers, responsible for the recruitment and management of Environmental Health Officers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Environmental Health Officers have no statutory role relating to funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment or collected data on regulatory gaps, environmental health standards, or the merits of inspection relating to funeral directors, but are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who are leading the government response to the Fuller Inquiry. An interim update on the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations was published in December 2025, and DHSC has committed to publishing the Government’s full response in summer 2026. That response will set out the Government’s position on any potential future changes to oversight or regulation of the funeral sector.

The Government offers its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the events referred to in these questions.

Local authorities are independent employers, responsible for the recruitment and management of Environmental Health Officers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Environmental Health Officers have no statutory role relating to funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment or collected data on regulatory gaps, environmental health standards, or the merits of inspection relating to funeral directors, but are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who are leading the government response to the Fuller Inquiry. An interim update on the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations was published in December 2025, and DHSC has committed to publishing the Government’s full response in summer 2026. That response will set out the Government’s position on any potential future changes to oversight or regulation of the funeral sector.

The Government offers its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the events referred to in these questions.

Local authorities are independent employers, responsible for the recruitment and management of Environmental Health Officers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Environmental Health Officers have no statutory role relating to funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment or collected data on regulatory gaps, environmental health standards, or the merits of inspection relating to funeral directors, but are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who are leading the government response to the Fuller Inquiry. An interim update on the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations was published in December 2025, and DHSC has committed to publishing the Government’s full response in summer 2026. That response will set out the Government’s position on any potential future changes to oversight or regulation of the funeral sector.

The Government offers its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the events referred to in these questions.

Local authorities are independent employers, responsible for the recruitment and management of Environmental Health Officers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Environmental Health Officers have no statutory role relating to funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment or collected data on regulatory gaps, environmental health standards, or the merits of inspection relating to funeral directors, but are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who are leading the government response to the Fuller Inquiry. An interim update on the Inquiry’s Phase 2 recommendations was published in December 2025, and DHSC has committed to publishing the Government’s full response in summer 2026. That response will set out the Government’s position on any potential future changes to oversight or regulation of the funeral sector.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. I would, of course, be happy to ensure that a meeting takes place so that that information can be shared and fully considered. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are also bringing forward further accountability when it comes to trusts to ensure that there is an inspection framework around them. Perhaps I could discuss that further with the hon. Gentleman, too.

The Government is focused on bringing down the backlog as soon as possible. Once the criminal court reforms come into force, they will apply to existing cases, provided the trial has not yet commenced. This will mean that cases which are past the point of initial mode of trial determination, but have not yet commenced trial, will be able to be changed from jury trial to trial by judge alone (either under the Crown Court Bench Division or on the grounds of technical complexity or length). Cases which are in the Crown Court will be retained within that jurisdiction.

Cases already part-way through a jury trial will proceed with a jury trial. Similarly, cases already assigned to one court jurisdiction (magistrates’ court or Crown Court) will not be reallocated to another jurisdiction.

The reason for taking this approach is so that the time savings and benefits of the reforms can be felt as soon as possible. Allowing pending cases to be tried by judge alone will enable us to start tackling the open caseload as soon as the new legislation is enacted, delivering swifter justice for victims without compromising defendants’ rights or fairness. It will also avoid two different procedures running in parallel in the Crown Court as a result of arbitrary cut-off dates. The application of procedural changes to existing cases is consistent with longstanding legal practice.

He still is my hon. Friend. I know that he has a principled objection. It is important to recognise that Sir Brian has emphasised that we need to do all of it to deal with the inefficiencies. We will have more to say tomorrow, when Sir Brian publishes part two of his report, which looks at courtrooms, prisoners and how the justice system works as a whole. We are increasing sitting days and investing more than ever before. I am negotiating with the Lady Chief Justice; there will be more sitting days to come. However, we also need reform to ensure that we continue to support the jury system, which is what we are doing.

I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 6 January to question 100312.

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 less than 2% of ineffective trials.

Securing data on the impact that late production or non-production of defendants has had on sitting time would come at a disproportionate cost, due to the time required to process this information.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.

Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.

In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days -  the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Last year we sat 107,771 Crown court sitting days, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year. While I acknowledge existing challenges in relation to the maintenance of the court estate, this Government is increasing investment to address this - £148.5 million was allocated to court and tribunal maintenance and project funding this financial year, £28.5 million more than the previous government funded last financial year.

Estate capacity is not the limiting factor when it comes to making full use of the available sitting days. Whether we can make full use of the physical space available depends on “system capacity” i.e. the sufficiency of judges, magistrates, legal advisors, advocates and wider system partners available to support them.

In the Crown Court for this financial year, we have allocated 111,250 sitting days -  the highest number of sitting days on record and over 5,000 more than the previous government funded for the last financial year. That is on top of an additional investment of up to £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitor fees and up to £34 million per year for criminal legal aid advocates. We have also secured record investment of up to £450 million per year for the courts system over the Spending Review period, alongside investing almost £150 million to modernise the court estate.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Lady Chief Justice continue discussions on allocation for 2025-26, aiming to give an unprecedented three-year certainty to the system. The Deputy Prime Minister has been clear that sitting days in the Crown and magistrates’ courts must continue to rise, and his ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate—including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms —can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

Ministers will introduce detailed proposals to Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows.