We recognise the long overdue move towards bringing data on the criminal justice system together, although it is not clear how the Department will use this to improve performance. In December 2021, the Department published a national scorecard and an adult rape scorecard that bring together data on performance across the criminal justice system, including on the size of the backlog, timeliness and victim attrition. The Department plans to also produce local scorecards at the police force level. In a complex system with multiple organisations, the use of scorecards to drive performance risks creating perverse incentives as organisations focus disproportionately on the metrics that the Department has selected to publish. The Department and HMCTS do not yet have the data they need to fully understand and manage the flow of cases. Both are relying on a new case management system to address these gaps, although HMCTS has currently paused the roll-out of this system. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out how the data it has developed and published will lead to improvements in performance and victims’ experiences. 8 Reducing the backlog in criminal courts 1 Capacity in the criminal courts