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 …
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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 than the pre– pandemic rate, which the NAO’s report shows was consistently close to 15% between 2014 and 2019.56 MoJ attributed the high proportion of ineffective trials to “running the system much hotter”, arguing that increasing the number of sitting days inevitably leads to an increase in ineffective trials.57 MoJ confirmed that judicial capacity is no longer a constraint on the number of trials that can be listed, but we were concerned to hear that over–listing of cases has contributed to the increased proportion of ineffective trials. While it is right that a degree of over–listing occurs to ensure that court time is not wasted when cases do not go ahead for unavoidable reasons, as we have already noted there is a huge impact on victims when their 50 Qq 78, 79 51 Q 81 52 Qq 9, 15, 25, 44, 45, 47 53 Q 33 54 Qq 32–33; C&AG‘s Report, para 18 55 Q 6; C&AG‘s Report, para 2.18 56 Q 6; C&AG‘s Report, Figure 9 57 Q 6 17 cases do not proceed on the day expected. HMCTS told us that there is an assessment of listing policies under way by the judiciary, and we look forward to its report, which is due in the spring.58
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Government response AI summary
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.
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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 …
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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 that the number of trials that did not go ahead for this reason in 2023, after the industrial action had finished, remained many times that for the years before 2022.59 MoJ acknowledged that the number of barristers and solicitors working on criminal cases had been in long–term decline.60 It pointed to a recent upturn in the number of barristers working more than 80% of their time on criminal cases, from 2,424 in 2020–21 to 2,726 in 2023–24, which it attributed to it increasing legal aid fees following the review by Sir Christopher Bellamy.61 Although MoJ acknowledged that the decrease in the number of solicitors was only “stabilising”, it pointed to the recent increase in fees for solicitors which has yet to have an effect.62 Although MoJ told us that the number of trials that do not go ahead on the scheduled day because of an absence of prosecution or defence barristers is beginning to decrease, we remain concerned.63
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Government response AI summary
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.
Read full response →
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 …
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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 and probation services.72
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Government response AI summary
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.
Read full response →
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 …
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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 which new cases come into the court and the rate at which cases conclude all affect the size of the backlog.74 At our evidence session, MoJ told us that around £42 million of the £477 million from the 2021 Spending Review was spent on the criminal courts, including additional sitting days in the Crown Court. Another £65 million was spent on handling the demands of the COVID–19 pandemic and associated recovery. Of the £107 million total, £28 million was spent on Nightingale courts and £18 million on video hearings, while other funding went to other parts of the justice system such as new 67 Qq 27, 75 68 Qq 6, 45 69 Qq 26, 45, 86; Letter from HMCTS to PAC, 22 January 2025 70 Qq 6, 45 71 Qq 45, 55, 64 72 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.8, 3.2 73 C&AG’s Report, para 17 74 C&AG’s Report, paras 17, 3.2 19 prisons and legal aid.75 MoJ also told us about how it has used funding in recent years to support criminal legal aid for barristers76 and solicitors,77 and to address the maintenance backlog in the courts.78
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Government response AI summary
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.
Read full response →
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 …
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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 it did “as much as it could”.79 We are aware that departments will be preparing bids to the current Spending Review and that MoJ is awaiting the results of the independent Leveson Review, which is considering fundamental reforms to the criminal justice system. In this context, we asked MoJ whether it was confident that it will receive the resources it needs to implement the reforms and tackle the backlog, and in reply MoJ told us it does not want to prejudge the outcome of the Leveson Review but that it would advise against accepting recommendations from the review without the resources to deliver them.80
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Government response AI summary
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.
Read full response →
HM Treasury