Sarah Champion – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on independent adjudicators in each public and private prisons and young offender institution in each month since January 2013.

Jeremy Wright

Independent Adjudicators are District Judges or Deputy District Judges who attend establishments when necessary to hear more serious cases. Where a replacement Judge needs to sit in court to replace one attending a prison the cost of the replacement Judge is charged on a quarterly basis by HM Courts Service to the National Offender Management Service. The charge varies according to time involved.

The information in the table below shows the monthly charges paid for the use of independent adjudicators in all prisons in England and Wales including Young Offenders Institutions for the period January 2013 to March 2014. Details for the months April 2014 to present are not yet available.

The cost per visit can vary due to several factors, including distance travelled, overnight accommodation where necessary, and the number of establishments visited on a single journey. Charges are made on the basis of visits and not adjudications, so a single visit may include several adjudications taking place at the same establishment.

The cost of annual Adjudication charges in 2013/14 was 22% lower than the cost in 2009/10.