Recommendations & Conclusions
5 items
22
Recommendation
12th Report - Crown Court backlogs
Acknowledged
MoJ confirmed that the proportion of ineffective trials–those that do not go ahead on the planned date and are relisted for later dates–had dropped from 27% at the end of 2023 to 25% in September 2024.55 MoJ acknowledged that this rate remained “far too high”, and it is much higher …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation and has provided further details in a letter to the Committee, stating that the recommendation was implemented by April 2025.
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
12th Report - Crown Court backlogs
Acknowledged
The NAO report charts a sharp increase in 2022 in the number of ineffective trials due to the unavailability of counsel, when it went up to 4,136 compared to 279 in 2021. While the impact of industrial action by the Criminal Bar Association in 2022 is clear, it is concerning …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation and has provided further details in a letter to the Committee, stating that the recommendation was implemented by April 2025.
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
12th Report - Crown Court backlogs
Acknowledged
In the 2021 Spending Review, MoJ received an additional £477 million to support recovery across the criminal justice system, including to help reduce the Crown Court backlog which then stood at around 60,000. MoJ also secured an additional £644 million a year by 2024–25 to expand capacity across courts, prisons …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's conclusion and has informed the Committee via a separate letter that the recommendation was implemented by April 2025.
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
12th Report - Crown Court backlogs
Acknowledged
As the NAO report found, MoJ cannot put a figure on how much has been spent on addressing the backlog in the Crown Court, as actions to address the backlog are spread over different parts of the criminal justice system.73 Judicial and staffing capacity, physical court capacity, the rate at …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's conclusion and has informed the Committee via a separate letter that the recommendation was implemented by April 2025.
HM Treasury
28
Conclusion
12th Report - Crown Court backlogs
Acknowledged
We asked witnesses for a breakdown of the £477 million received in the 2021 Spending Review, and an outline of what it achieved. We were told that it “depends on what the counterfactual is”. Without that funding, MoJ told us that the backlog would have been “even worse” and that …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee's conclusion and has informed the Committee via a separate letter that the recommendation was implemented by April 2025.
HM Treasury