Select committee: Justice Committee
Conclusion 36
3rd Report - Leadership of the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Published 23 May 2025
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Leadership of the Criminal Cases Review Commission All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We conclude that, a decade on from our predecessor Committee’s inquiry into the CCRC, there is evidence that the situation for the CCRC has deteriorated significantly. At the time of writing, the CCRC lacks a chair and has struggled to secure a sufficient number of commissioners, which are central to how it operates. The CCRC has moved to remote-first as a means of operation, which is out of step with the rest of the public sector and seems unsuited to the nature of their work. An independent review found a number of significant failures in how it dealt with one of the most significant miscarriages of justice of recent times. The leadership of the organisation failed to respond adequately to Andrew Malkinson’s acquittal and to the publication of the independent review. (Conclusion, Paragraph 99)
From: Justice Committee, 3rd Report - Leadership of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (HC 749), 23 May 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 29 July 2025 (deadline 23 July 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report, agrees on the importance of strong CCRC leadership, and says many conclusions are "rightly for the CCRC and its new interim Chair to consider".
- The Ministry agrees the handling of the Malkinson case and the Henley report has damaged the CCRC's reputation, and says the Lord Chancellor has tasked interim Chair Dame Vera Baird with a review of its operation and leadership.
- On the section 23 disclosure prohibition, the Ministry has asked the interim Chair to consider it and, "if she concludes that this is hampering the effectiveness of the CCRC", to include it in her recommendations.
- On funding, it notes the budget has risen to £10.1 million for 2025/26 and says requests for increases "will be considered" through departmental processes, while it is "right to expect" the CCRC to first use existing funding cost-effectively.
- The CCRC Chair has been added to the list of roles subject to pre-appointment scrutiny, and the department "will consult the Committee" on the permanent Chair's time commitment and other aspects of the recruitment campaign.