To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his planned timescale is for rolling out problem-solving courts in England and Wales if the trial of those courts is judged to be effective.
Answered on
9 November 2020
We have committed to creating pilots for problem-solving courts that will focus on individuals where their offending is related to drug or alcohol misuse, mental health issues or domestic abuse, where their offence could have been punished with up to two years custody. We will also pilot a problem-solving court for women. Legislation to enable this will be brought forward in the near future. The location of the pilots, the timing of their commencement and the criteria against which they will be evaluated are currently being developed. Any further roll out of problem-solving courts will be decided based on the evaluation of the pilots.