Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Court Cases Backlog

Tuesday 14 December 2021 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister estimates that outstanding cases in magistrates courts are falling and close to pre-pandemic levels.
  • Section 28 is key for preserving evidence in cases with delays.
  • The Ministry of Justice lifted the limit on sitting days in the Crown court.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Gwynne Ind Gorton and Denton
Justice & Courts
Context

The backlog in the Crown court has grown significantly due to the pandemic. The MP is concerned about the time required to clear this backlog.

Question

What estimate he has made of the length of time required to clear the backlog of Crown court cases resulting from the covid-19 outbreak?

Answer from James Cartlidge

We are already seeing results from efforts to tackle the impact of the pandemic on our justice system. Outstanding cases in magistrates courts are falling and close to pre-pandemic levels, while the Crown court backlog is stabilising. The spending review provides an extra £477 million for the criminal justice system, which will allow us to reduce Crown court backlogs from about 60,000 today to an estimated 53,000 by March 2025.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The timeline is not specifically provided, only a reduction in backlog size.

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Q2 Sheryll Murray Con
Justice & Courts
Context

There are concerns about the impact of case delays on evidence preservation, especially for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

Question

What steps is my hon. Friend taking to ensure that evidence is not compromised by the passage of time if there is a delay?

Answer from James Cartlidge

Since 2000, outstanding cases in the Crown court have never been below 30,000, indicating inherent delays. Section 28 is key for preserving evidence. Since November 2020, vulnerable witnesses can pre-record cross-examination evidence before trials; this pilot was extended to four more Crown courts in September and plans are to roll it out to all Crown courts.

Answered
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Q3 Andrew Gwynne Ind Gorton and Denton
Justice & Courts
Context

The MP criticises the Ministry of Justice for cutting sitting days in Crown courts in 2019, which has contributed to the backlog.

Question

Reducing the Crown court backlog to 53,000 still does not take it back to pre-pandemic levels. We cannot just blame covid for the backlog, because in the year before the pandemic, it grew by 23%. Does the Minister regret the Ministry of Justice's decision to slash sitting days in 2019?

Answer from James Cartlidge

The key point is that we have lifted and removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown court for now. In February 2010, under Labour, the backlog was about 48,000; it dropped to 40,000 before lockdowns. The pandemic had a huge impact. We are confident with our measures including £477 million funding and moving cases from Crown court to magistrates court via the Judicial Review and Courts Bill.

Not addressed: The Minister did not directly address regret for cutting sitting days in 2019.

How: Blame Previous Government, Shift Focus

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