Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Fifty-Second Report - Key challenges facing the Ministry of Justice
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1190
Published 24 March 2021
Recommendations
2
The pandemic has significantly impacted the wellbeing and life chances of prisoners, making it critical...
Recommendation
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 …
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HM Treasury
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Conclusions (17)
3
Conclusion
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 …
4
Conclusion
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 …
5
Conclusion
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 …
6
Conclusion
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 …
1
Conclusion
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.
7
Conclusion
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 …
8
Conclusion
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 …
9
Conclusion
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 …
10
Conclusion
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 …
11
Conclusion
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 …
12
Conclusion
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 …
13
Conclusion
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 …
14
Conclusion
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 …
15
Conclusion
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 …
16
Conclusion
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 …
17
Conclusion
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 …
18
Conclusion
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 …