Recommendation 3

We recognise that the pandemic led to delays in court hearings which have contributed to a growing remand population. However, it is important to stress that the remand population has been growing despite a decrease in the number of cases entering the Crown Court, and we are concerned that the impact of higher police numbers and a return to pre-pandemic case levels may lead to further increases in the remand population. In view of the risk of case levels increasing, we recommend that the Government conducts a rapid review to understand why the number of cases entering the Crown Court remains depressed, what the risks are of the number of cases increasing again, and to model the effect of changes in the number of cases entering the system on the remand population.