To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the granting of anonymity to defendants in certain cases in some EU member states and the implications for open justice. (77477)

None. Open justice is a fundamental principle of our criminal justice system which requires no support from comparative research. Nor would research into the practice in other EU jurisdictions necessarily be of assistance in forming a view on this issue, as defendant anonymity needs to be considered in the context of individual countries’ criminal justice systems generally.