Select committee inquiry
MoJ recall
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“The Committee will question senior officials from the Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service and Her Majesty’s Prison Service on a range of current issues in the Department’s remit including the impact of Covid 19 on courts and prisons; the HMCTS transformation programme and the prison estate. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 6.00pm Wednesday 3 February 2021.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of Fifty-Second Report - Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice ↗
The justice system is under unprecedented pressure. The Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) is facing significant risks across courts and tribunals, prisons and probation services as it attempts to recover from the pandemic and make progress with ambitious change programmes. The court reform programme is in its final phases but still not in the clear; a major programme of building new prisons is underway but threatened by an eye-watering maintenance backlog of around £1 billion; and HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) an executive agency of the Ministry, is in the process of reunifying the probation service. These are daunting challenges, made more difficult by the need to plan for and manage the expected surge in demand across the criminal justice system from the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers.
The response to the pandemic has exacerbated existing pressures on the justice system.
The backlog in the court system means unacceptably long waiting times for people to access justice. We remain unconvinced that the Ministry and HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) have robust plans in place to manage the challenges in the court system, and for reducing the huge backlogs that have built up.
We are also concerned that restrictive regimes in prisons during the pandemic have worsened prisoner wellbeing and mental health, and social distancing has made the effective provision of rehabilitation and probation services much more challenging.
While we are encouraged by HMPPS’s plans for managing the risks in the prison system and probation services, the maintenance backlog poses a real threat to achieving a safe and secure prison estate.
After sustained pressure on its finances, the Ministry received a welcome uplift in the 2020 Spending Review, including £4 billion for new prison places and £119 million to support recovery from the pandemic. Even so, its long-term funding position remains uncertain and hampers its ability to make credible plans to address the risks it faces.
What the government said
The government responded on 2 September 2021. The deadline was 24 May 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendation in each of the six areas, while in the first it "does not agree that there is an absence of a clear sense of priorities".
- On priorities, the department says its clear priorities are set out in its Outcome Delivery Plan, "that will be published this summer", and it has set up a new Delivery Board to scrutinise critical programmes.
- On the court backlog, the department says progress is "sensitive to a range of factors" including the pandemic, and that it "will be able to provide a further update in summer 2021".
- On court reform, it says the programme "is still due to be complete in December 2023", and that HMCTS is investing an extra £8 million in data infrastructure and management information.
- On the prison estate, it says its 2021-22 settlement provides £315 million in capital funding and that it "is committed to developing a robust long-term strategy for the prison estate".
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 27 January 2021 to 2 September 2021. The dashed mark is the deadline Parliament records for the government's response.
- Oral evidence 11 Feb 2021
- Report 24 Mar 2021
- Government response 2 Sep 2021
- Correspondence 8 Mar 2021
What it recommended 5 recommendations · 13 conclusions
2The pandemic has significantly impacted the wellbeing and life chances of prisoners, making it critical...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The pandemic has significantly impacted the wellbeing and life chances of prisoners, making it critical that the Ministry and HMPPS accelerate their work to improve the mental health of prisoners. The need for restrictive regimes to maintain social distancing in prisons during the pandemic has exacerbated the existing mental health challenges that prisoners face. In 2019–20, the incidents of self-harm in prisons remained high, particularly in the female prisoner population. We welcome HMPPS’ work to specifically address the issues facing female prisoners, including maintaining family contact and one-to-one counselling support. It is vital that HMPPS continues to learn lessons from how it manages the impact of the pandemic on prisoner wellbeing and that it sustains this work in the long term. We are encouraged by HMPPS’s commitment to improve its work with others, including the Samaritans and CLINKS. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response to this report, the Ministry and HMPPS should set out what progress they have made with the initiatives they put in place to support prisoner mental health since the beginning of the pandemic and the impact this has had on those in prison.
3We have limited confidence in the Ministry’s plans for reducing the backlog in the court...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We have limited confidence in the Ministry’s plans for reducing the backlog in the court system, particularly in criminal courts. The backlog in criminal courts was growing before the pandemic, and many organisations have warned that it could take years to clear the backlog. But the Ministry and HMCT could not tell us what level of outstanding caseload is, in their view, acceptable. It is therefore not clear to us what the Ministry is aiming for in its plans to reduce the backlog. What is abundantly clear is the impact that delaying access to justice has on victims and witnesses, who in some cases find themselves waiting years to access justice. There is a risk that the Ministry is overly relying on the potential of technology 6 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice to manage the increased demand in the court system, without yet having a clear understanding of how the rapid expansion of remote justice impacts on court users or justice outcomes. Recommendation: The Ministry should write to the Committee within one month to set out its plan, including clear projections and timeframes, to reduce the backlog in the court system, particularly in criminal courts where the backlog is most acute.
4Despite previous warnings, the Ministry and HMCTS do not yet have a firm grip on...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Despite previous warnings, the Ministry and HMCTS do not yet have a firm grip on the data they need to understand how effective the court reform programme is or its impact on users. Despite past delays, the Ministry says that the court reform programme was on track to deliver to its revised timescale. The pandemic accelerated plans to introduce more video hearings, and it says that delays to other areas of the reform programme are within planned contingencies. The Ministry recognises that collecting the right data consistently is key to understanding whether its reforms are working and how they are impacting users in the justice system. It has plans to publish the data it has collected on the impact of remote hearings, but we are disappointed that it does not yet have a better handle on what data it needs to assess the success of the court reform programme. This is particularly worrying given our past recommendations and those published in the 2019 Digital Justice Report the Ministry itself commissioned. The Ministry accepted all the recommendations, but it appears not to have made any tangible progress. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Ministry should explain how it is managing the impact of the pandemic on the court reform programme, including its plans to respond to the recommendations set out in the 2019 Digital Justice report.
5We remain concerned that the maintenance backlog poses a real threat to achieving a safe...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We remain concerned that the maintenance backlog poses a real threat to achieving a safe and secure prison estate able to accommodate future prison populations. The latest spending review settlement included a welcome boost of £4 billion in capital spending to support building new prisons, but only £315 million set aside for maintaining the prison estate. With a maintenance backlog valued in November 2019 at nearly £1 billion, this is significantly below what is required to maintain decent, safe prison places. The Ministry’s one-year settlement for revenue funding does not support the long-term planning that is required, and that we have repeatedly called for, to support the effective management of the prison estate. As we have seen in other sectors, there is a risk that without enough money to address resource pressures, the newly announced capital funding could end up being redirected to plug holes in the budget. The Ministry and HMPPS are confident that enough prison places are planned to meet anticipated demand, but there remains significant uncertainty in the justice system. For example, how new police officers are deployed could have significant implications for the demand for prison places. Recommendation: As part of setting out a long-term strategy for managing the prison estate, the Ministry should explain how it will: • work with others in the system, including the Home Office to refine its understanding of demand for prison places; and Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice 7 • reduce the maintenance backlog in the existing prison estate
6Despite the efforts of staff during the pandemic, there are clear signs of strain on...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Despite the efforts of staff during the pandemic, there are clear signs of strain on people working across courts and tribunals, prisons and probation services. We remain concerned about the unprecedented pressures facing frontline staff at this time. HMPPS says that probation officer caseloads are high but manageable, and that it is seeking to address high and unbalanced caseloads for probation officers as part of the unification of probation services in June 2021. HMPPS also says that managing prison staff absences during the pandemic has been a big challenge, though at the time of our evidence session, 10% of prison staff were absent, and more staff are returning to work. We welcome the news that HMPPS has pressed on with recruiting new prison officers, particularly given the expected increase in the number of prisoners as government recruits 20,000 new police officers. Recommendation: The Ministry, HMCTS and HMPPS should identify and agree with relevant professional bodies specific actions to support staff working across the system to manage the strain of pandemic recovery efforts, and how it will monitor and support staff through to the end of the pandemic. 8 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice 1 Recovering from the pandemic
1We took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) and its executive agencies, HM...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) and its executive agencies, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) on the challenges facing the justice system, including courts, prisons and probation services.
7The Ministry and HMPPS have a duty of care to those in prisons.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Ministry and HMPPS have a duty of care to those in prisons. We have reported in the past that improving the mental health of prisoners is a difficult and complex task, and that it is essential to reducing reoffending and ensuring that those who are released from prison can rebuild their lives in the community.6 The need to manage the risks to prisoners and prison staff resulting from the pandemic has meant that temporary restrictive regimes have been in place for many months. This has meant prisoners spending longer times in cells, the stoppage of family visits, and suspension of education programmes and other purposeful activity. This has significantly exacerbated the existing mental health challenges that prisoners face.7
8HMPPS’ data shows that during 2020, there were 67 self-inflicted deaths in custody, and 58,879...
Concluded (the committee's words)
HMPPS’ data shows that during 2020, there were 67 self-inflicted deaths in custody, and 58,879 self-harm incidents in the 12 months to September 2020. We heard from HMPPS that while these levels are high, they are showing signs of declining. The situation remains particularly alarming for female prisoners.8 We welcomed HMPPS’ work to set up a taskforce to address issues facing female prisoners directly, including one-to-one counselling and initiatives to maintain family contact. HMPPS recognised that continuing to learn lessons from how it has managed the impact of the pandemic on prisoners’ wellbeing is critical to its long-term work to prioritise and support prisoner mental health. Its commitment to draw on the expertise of others, including the Samaritans and CLINKS, is encouraging.9 It has also committed to bettering its understanding of the number of prison staff attending training specifically focused on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners.10 A challenging route to pandemic recovery in the court system
9The pandemic has had a significant impact on the court system, exacerbating an already growing...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the court system, exacerbating an already growing backlog in cases, particularly in the criminal courts. Stakeholders are concerned that it could take years to clear the backlog that has now accumulated. The effects on the lives of defendants, witnesses and victims are acute; we heard from a vulnerable constituent how waiting four years to access justice had severely impacted their wellbeing and recovery. The Ministry committed to shorten these waiting times and told us that it was putting £40 million in funding towards supporting victims, including providing independent advisers in the cases of sexual abuse and domestic violence. It recognised that more needs to be done to ensure the existence of these services is clearly communicated to victims.11 5 Qq 68, 69 6 Committee of Public Accounts, Mental health in prisons, Eighth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 400, 13 December 2017 7 HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Aggregate report on Short scrutiny visits 21 April – & July 2020, July 2020 8 Letter from HM Prison and Probation Service, 9 February 2021 9 Qq 41–45 10 Letter from HM Prison and Probation Service, 9 February 2021, page 6 11 Qq 6, 31, 32 10 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice
10Government has also committed additional funding to support the court system to reduce the backlogs,...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Government has also committed additional funding to support the court system to reduce the backlogs, including by making court rooms safe through the installation of plexiglass and introducing 40 Nightingale courts, with plans to increase this by a further 20 courts. It has also brought back into service some court rooms it closed through its court reform programme. The Ministry told us this increase in capacity was beginning to show some results, particularly in magistrates’ courts, but the overall situation remained very challenging.12 Despite having 290 rooms that can be used for jury trials, the Ministry told us that trials involving more than one defendant (“multi-hander trials”) are proving particularly difficult to accommodate, but that work was in progress to address these challenges. It also committed to maximising the number of sitting days for judges this financial year. Despite us pressing the Ministry for clarity, it was unable to tell us what level of backlog it was planning for. The Ministry could say at least that it aims to reduce the backlog to lower than pre-pandemic levels, but those levels were already unacceptably high.13
11The Ministry appears to place significant focus on the ability of technology to manage the...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Ministry appears to place significant focus on the ability of technology to manage the increased demand on the court system, through remote hearings and other technology-based initiatives it says will drive up productivity. It told us that user feedback for video hearings in probate and the family court have been very positive. But these technologies could be more difficult to implement in other parts of the court system and may yet take up to 2022 to roll out completely. The Ministry and HMCTS acknowledged that more work still needs to be done to fully understand the impact remote hearings have on user satisfaction and justice outcomes.14 12 Q 5 13 Qq 6, 7, 2–25 14 Qq 5, 8, 18–20 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice 11 2 Systemic challenges across the justice system Delivering court reform
12We have previously reported on HMCTS’s £1.2 billion programme to modernise courts, a very ambitious...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We have previously reported on HMCTS’s £1.2 billion programme to modernise courts, a very ambitious programme aiming to change how people access justice using more technology, closing courts and centralising customer service. We were concerned that HMCTS was at risk of falling behind schedule despite extending its timetable from four to six years, and that the pace of reform and pressure to make savings was limiting HMCTS’s ability to evaluate the impact on users and justice outcomes, particularly for vulnerable users.15 The Ministry and HMCTS told us that despite the pandemic, the programme is in its final stages and will not require a further extension to its timetable. They told us that some parts of the programme, including video hearings, were accelerated during the pandemic and that about 20,000 video hearings were now taking place each week. The Ministry and HMCTS told us they were confident that the parts of the programme that are behind schedule are within the contingencies they had planned for.16 They were also confident that, with regards to the reunification of probation services, that private sector suppliers will maintain their services until the handover in June 2021, but that they had contingency plans in place should a supplier fail before that time.17
13The Ministry’s new accounting officer told us of her commitment to collect good quality, consistent...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Ministry’s new accounting officer told us of her commitment to collect good quality, consistent data to support the reform programme, including data on user satisfaction and justice outcomes. While we welcome this renewed commitment, we are disappointed that the Ministry has yet to make any significant progress on implementing the recommendations of the Digital Justice report it commissioned in 2019.18 Despite the court reform programme entering its final stages, the Ministry and HMCTS have also failed to publish the promised evaluation framework that will set out how the Ministry will robustly assess the impact of its reform programmes.19 Managing prison capacity
14The 2020 spending review included £4 billion in capital funding to support the provision of...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The 2020 spending review included £4 billion in capital funding to support the provision of 18,000 new prison places over four years. But beyond this isolated multi-year commitment, the one-year spending review settlement makes it difficult for the Ministry and its agencies to plan for the long term. The Ministry and HMPPS were confident that the planned prison places and temporary accommodation would be enough to meet the expected increase in the prison population to 96,000 prisoners by 2026 and that they will receive enough revenue funding to service this new capacity. They recognised that uncertainty remains in the system that could impact demand projections, including the effects of decisions of how the 20,000 new police officers are deployed.20 15 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming courts and tribunals, Fifty-sixth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 976, 20 July 2018 16 Qq 14–17 17 Qq 51–53 18 The Legal Education Foundation, Digital Justice: HMCTS data strategy and delivering access to justice, October 2019 19 Qq 10–14 20 Qq 46, 58, 59, 60 12 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice
15We have previously reported that the Ministry and HMPPS’ management of the prison estate has...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We have previously reported that the Ministry and HMPPS’ management of the prison estate has resulted in a staggering backlog of maintenance work.21 The backlog in maintenance is now estimated at £1 billion. The recent spending review included £315 million in 2020–21 to address this, significantly below what is required to maintain the prison estate. We raised the risk that, without enough funding to meet resource pressures, the Ministry and HMPPS could again end up redirecting capital funding to gaps in the budget. The Ministry told us it was confident that HM Treasury understood the value for money implications of insufficiently funding the maintenance backlog and that they were in discussions to secure future funding to meet the challenge.22 Continued strain on frontline staff
16We received evidence from the Bar Council raising concerns around the safety of court staff...
Concluded (the committee's words)
We received evidence from the Bar Council raising concerns around the safety of court staff during the pandemic. A recent survey they conducted showed 84% of barristers who attended court in December 2020 had concerns about their safety and wellbeing.23 We questioned the Ministry and its agencies on the impact of Covid-19 on staff sickness rates. The Ministry told us that the Covid-19 related absences rate in the court system was under 2% and that there had been few cases of transmission identified within the court system itself. HMPPS told us of the short-term challenges related to the number of staff that have been on Covid-19 related sick leave, and that 10% of its staff were currently absent. We welcomed HMPPS’ work to support staff returning to work after periods of absence caused by the pandemic.24
17The pandemic and increasing demand on the justice system will continue to put pressure on...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The pandemic and increasing demand on the justice system will continue to put pressure on staff who are at the heart of ensuring prisons are well run, court backlogs are addressed, and probation services are effective. HMPPS told us of its ongoing work to continue to recruit staff after an initial hiatus at the start of the pandemic.25 We heard that between October 2016 and September 2020, HMPPS recruited an extra 3,844 prison officers, that 1,464 officers had recently completed training and a further 522 officers are currently undergoing training.26 The Ministry also told us it has progressed well with recruiting 1,600 additional court staff as part of its work to support the court system to recover from the pandemic.27
18HMPPS assured us that as the programme to reunify probation services was on scheduled to...
Concluded (the committee's words)
HMPPS assured us that as the programme to reunify probation services was on scheduled to complete in June 2021. It told us that it was consistently monitoring the caseloads of probations officers but that these remain high. HMPPS told us it had committed £155 million to improving IT systems to help probation officers do their jobs more efficiently and to recruit more staff.28 21 Public Accounts Committee, Improving the prison estate, Fifteenth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 244, 11 September 2020 22 Qq 66–69 23 The Bar Council submission, para 10 24 Q 4, 35, 38–40 25 Qq 4, 35 26 Qq 35–37 27 Q 4 28 Qq 53–57 Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice 13
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 11 Feb 2021MoJ recall; NAO Estimate and Strategy6 witnesses, listed belowparliament.uk ↗
Who gave evidence 6 witnesses
- Antonia RomeoPermanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice
- Daniel LambauerExecutive Director (Operations), National Audit Office
- Gareth DaviesSecond Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport
- James McEwenChief Operating Officer, Ministry of Justice
- Jo FarrarSecond Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive, HM Prison and Probation Service
- Kevin SadlerInterim Chief Executive, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service