Recommendations & Conclusions
6 items
2
Recommendation
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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 than 400% since the onset of the pandemic. As victims …
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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 than 400% since the onset of the pandemic. As victims are made to wait longer for their cases to be heard, their lives are put on hold and their trauma is prolonged. As waiting times increase, so does the risk the victim withdraws from the process and the case collapses. While the proportion of cases collapsing in the courts in this way has reduced recently, the scale of victim attrition in other stages of the criminal justice process is unacceptably high. We are encouraged that the Department is putting more money into victim support services, doubling investment from £92 million in 2019–20 to £185 million by 2024–25. It also has plans to increase the number of independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs), whose support to victims halves the likelihood of a victim withdrawing from the process. In June 2021, the Department set out a range of other actions it would take in its end-to-end rape review, and published a progress update in December 2021, but cannot yet say what impact these actions are having on the number of rape and serious sexual offence cases waiting in the backlog. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out its plan to assess the impact of its measures to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences and its progress on recruiting ISVAs.
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Government response AI 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 …
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HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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, HC 732, 22 October 2021 2 C&AG’s Report, paras 2, …
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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, HC 732, 22 October 2021 2 C&AG’s Report, paras 2, 1.6 3 C&AG’s Report, para 1 4 C&AG’s Report, paras 3, 6 5 Qq7–10; C&AG’s Report, paras 5, 1.10–1.11 6 Qq19–20; C&AG’s Report, para 6 Reducing the backlog in criminal courts 9 number of cases waiting longer than a year increased by 302%, from 2,803 to 11,379.7 The Department told us that it is focusing on reducing waiting times as well as the size of the Crown Court backlog, and that this will require improvements in productivity and the rate at which courts can complete cases. The Department said it needs to be careful that this focus on reducing waiting times does not create perverse incentives, for example by avoiding the more difficult cases.8 HMCTS told us that the local judiciary in each area has a great understanding of how long each case will take to complete and accepted that there was more it could do to bring these data together.9 Recruiting and retaining staff
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Government response AI 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 …
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HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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 has the court staff that it needs to meet these …
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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 has the court staff that it needs to meet these plans.11 But the Department needs to recruit more judges to meet this increase, and has faced difficulties recruiting the numbers it needs. In the last recruitment round, it filled 52 of 63 available positions for full-time, salaried circuit judges. It said it is hoping to recruit a further 78 full-time judges, which will meet the additional demand it expects as well as the shortfall from the last recruitment round.12
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Government response AI 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.
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HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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 published its diversity and inclusion strategy to improve the representation …
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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 published its diversity and inclusion strategy to improve the representation of underrepresented groups within the judiciary.16 While discussing its plans in the session to boost judicial numbers, the Department did not reflect on what is needed to maintain and improve the diversity of the judiciary. 7 C&AG’s Report, para 7 8 Qq33–37 9 Q91 10 Qq23 11 Qq15–18 12 25, 69, 113 13 Qq25; 70 14 The Bar Council (RBC0007), The Law Society (RBC0002), The Criminal Bar Association (RBC0010) 15 The Lammy Review: An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System, September 2017 16 Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020–2025, November 2025 10 Reducing the backlog in criminal courts Prison places
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Government response AI 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.
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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 more challenging to hear jury trials during the period when …
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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 more challenging to hear jury trials during the period when social distancing was in place given the additional space needed to hear trials safely.29 As a result the number of such cases waiting longer than a year increased by 435% between March 2020 and June 2021.30 Since March 2021, the number of rape and serious sexual offence cases in the backlog actually fell, though the 25 Qq59–61; C&AG’s Report, para 2.12 26 Qq59–60 27 Qq59–61 28 Qq62–68 29 Q38 30 C&AG’s Report, para 9 12 Reducing the backlog in criminal courts Department accepted the number needs to come down much further.31 The Department published its end-to-end rape review in June 2021 which set out actions to increase the number of rape and serious sexual offence cases being prosecuted and convicted, which could add further pressure on the courts.32 The Department said that it was too early to assess the impact of its rape review on cases in the backlog.33
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Government response AI 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.
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HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backl…
Acknowledged
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 support victims. It is increasing what it spends on victim …
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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 support victims. It is increasing what it spends on victim support services from £92 million in 2019–20 to £185 million by 2024– 25, including funding for rape support centres and sexual violence support services.38 It has launched a consultation on improving victims’ experiences of the justice system.39 It is also increasing the number of independent sexual violence advisers (ISVAs) to 1,000 by 2024–25. The Department told us that ISVAs support victims from earlier on in the process and have been shown to reduce by 50% the likelihood of a victim withdrawing their support.40 Data to understand the system
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Government response AI 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.
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HM Treasury