Reducing the backlog in criminal courts

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 21 Sep 2021 Closed: 27 May 2022 Parliament page
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a growing backlog of cases waiting to be tried in the criminal courts system. During the first national lockdown, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) closed some court buildings, and suspended all jury trials. Since then, courts have reopened, but national guidelines for social distancing … Read more
5 Recommendations
18 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 6 events
23 Sep
2022
Correspondence
27 May
2022
Report published
9 Mar
2022
Report published
7 Feb
2022
Correspondence
13 Dec
2021
Oral evidence
13 Dec
2021
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
13 Dec 2021
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Reducing the backlog in criminal courts
Andrew Baigent · HM Courts and Tribunals Service Antonia Romeo · Ministry of Justice Jerome Glass · Ministry of Justice
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backlog in criminal courts HC 643 9 Mar 2022 23 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
Clear
2 Recommendation Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
Victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound...
Victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound and extend their suffering and lead to too many cases collapsing. The number of such cases waiting longer than a year has increased by more … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Since publishing the End-to-End Rape Review Report, the government has made progress in delivering actions to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences, including publishing progress reports and local scorecards. They are also recruiting additional Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers.
HM Treasury
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7 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
As the backlog has increased, so has the time that defendants, witnesses and victims have...
As the backlog has increased, so has the time that defendants, witnesses and victims have waited for their case to be completed. Between March 2020 and June 2021, the 1 C&AG’s Report, Reducing the backlog in criminal courts, Session 2021–22, … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and states that it is working with the judiciary and partners to improve timeliness, reduce demand in the Crown Court, and improve the wider system capacity. Spending Review provides extra funding to improve waiting times and reduce the Crown Court backlog. They will write to the Committee by October 2022 to update on progress.
HM Treasury
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8 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
The Department’s plan to reduce the Crown Court backlog to 53,000 cases relies on increasing...
The Department’s plan to reduce the Crown Court backlog to 53,000 cases relies on increasing the number of sitting days from 100,000 in 2021–22 to 105,000 in 2022–23, then 106,500 in both 2023–24 and 2024–25.10 HMCTS told us that it … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the need to recruit more judges and highlights the actions taken to improve the pool of fee-paid judges, adjust recruitment approaches, and increase the judicial retirement age, setting a target implementation date of March 2024.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
In 2017, the Lammy review into how ethnic minorities are treated in the criminal justice...
In 2017, the Lammy review into how ethnic minorities are treated in the criminal justice system noted the importance of recruiting a diverse judiciary, and recommended a national target to achieve a representative judiciary by 2025.15 In 2020, the judiciary … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the importance of judicial diversity and highlights the actions taken to improve the pool of fee-paid judges, adjust recruitment approaches, and increase the judicial retirement age, setting a target implementation date of March 2024.
HM Treasury
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18 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
The Department explained that victims of rape and serious sexual offences had been particularly affected...
The Department explained that victims of rape and serious sexual offences had been particularly affected by the pandemic. These difficult and complex cases are more likely to need a jury trial, which need space to accommodate the jury. It was … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, and states progress has been made in delivering actions to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences, including publishing progress reports and local scorecards. They are also recruiting additional Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisers.
HM Treasury
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20 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the …
Several organisations wrote to us to describe the trauma and impact on victims having to...
Several organisations wrote to us to describe the trauma and impact on victims having to wait longer for their cases to be heard.37 In the evidence session, the Department set out some of the actions it is taking to better … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and published the first local criminal justice system scorecards for all crime and adult rape in March 2022. These scorecards will be published quarterly to increase transparency, increase understanding of the system, and support collaboration.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 23 of 5 classified
Accepted 10
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 6
Deferred 4
Not Addressed 2
Total 5 recs + 18 conclusions
Correspondence 2 letters
23 Sep 2022 Correspondence from Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, re response to the PAC Committee – Reducing the backlogs in criminal courts, dated 7 September 2022
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7 Feb 2022 Correspondence from Jerome Glass, Director General, Policy and Strategy Group, Ministry of Justice, re Individuals released under investigation for RASSO Crimes, dated 2 February 2022
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