Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backlog in criminal courts
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 643
9 March 2022
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty Third report from Session 2021-22 · published 27 May 2022
Recommendations & Conclusions
6 results
2
Recommendation
Acknowledged
Victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound...
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
As the backlog has increased, so has the time that defendants, witnesses and victims have...
Conclusion
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, …
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Government Response Summary
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
The Department’s plan to reduce the Crown Court backlog to 53,000 cases relies on increasing...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
In 2017, the Lammy review into how ethnic minorities are treated in the criminal justice...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
The Department explained that victims of rape and serious sexual offences had been particularly affected...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
Several organisations wrote to us to describe the trauma and impact on victims having to...
Conclusion
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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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