Forty-Third Report - Reducing the backlog in criminal courts

We remain unconvinced that the prison system will cope with the likely increase in prisoners given the planned increase in police officers and the Department’s work to reduce the backlog in criminal courts. In October 2019 the government announced it … Read more We remain unconvinced that the prison system will cope with the likely increase in prisoners given the planned increase in police officers and the Department’s work to reduce the backlog in criminal courts. In October 2019 the government announced it would recruit 20,000 additional police officers by 2023, which the Department expects will lead to a significant increase in cases entering the courts, and in turn custodial sentences. In July 2021, the Department reported a gap of 4,000 prison places by the end of 2023, even once it had factored in 18,000 additional places as part of its current prison build programme. It has since secured funding for 2,000 more prison places, accounting for only half of the shortfall. We are concerned that the Department’s plans allow for no contingency and resilience that might be needed if, for instance, police recruitment leads to more cases entering the courts than expected or there are delays in its prison building programme. We have reported before on the Department under-delivering on its promises to create new prison places and on the staggering backlog of maintenance work required to keep existing prisons fit for purpose. We have also been critical before about the effectiveness of cross-government approaches to reducing re-offending; sustained progress in this area will be a vital part of the equation if the prison system is going to cope. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out how it is building resilience across the criminal justice system and, crucially, how it will ensure there are enough prison places to meet the expected demand from increased police recruitment and faster recovery in criminal courts. Show less

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On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (the Department) and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service about the backlog in the criminal courts.1

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