Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Crown Court Backlog

Tuesday 20 February 2024 · 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 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister was asked about progress in reducing the Crown court backlog.
  • Minister stated the Government is investing in increasing capacity in the criminal justice system.
  • Minister denied that the average wait time for rape and serious sexual assault cases is 18 months.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Nick Smith Lab Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney
Justice & Courts
Context

The MP noted the Crown courts now have a backlog of over 65,000 cases. Experts say this capacity does not match demand.

Question

What progress has been made on reducing the backlog of cases in the Crown court? If that is not bad enough, experts say the courts' capacity to deal with processing cases will not keep pace with demand. Does the Minister agree that this leads to too many victims giving up on our justice system?

Answer from Mike Freer

No, I do not accept that that means we are giving up on the system. The Government continue to invest in every single lever that we can pull to increase capacity in our criminal justice system. Given the additional work that the judiciary is doing, the disposal rate in our Crown courts is up and we are seeing record levels of disposals.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked about victims giving up on pursuing justice due to the backlog and inadequate capacity; the Minister did not directly acknowledge this issue or propose a solution addressing it.

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Q2 Nick Smith Lab Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney
Crime & Law Enforcement Justice & Courts
Context

The MP highlighted that rape and serious sexual assault cases now make up one in seven of the backlog, with an average wait time for trial after charge at 18 months.

Question

Rape and serious sexual assault cases have increased to 10.3% of all Crown court cases and make up nearly 10,000 of them. The average wait time for a trial has risen to 18 months. There is also a tenfold increase in adjourned cases due to the fall in the number of RASSO prosecution or defence barristers. How will this staffing crisis across the criminal justice system be fixed?

Answer from Mike Freer

The figure for the average time for a RASSO case is not true. The Government have continued to invest in ensuring that RASSO cases are brought forward. Listing is a matter for the judiciary, who ensure vulnerable victims are dealt with expeditiously. We continue to invest in the legal aid system, recently increasing fees and engaging with the criminal legal aid review.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked about fixing the staffing crisis and addressing wait times for RASSO cases; the Minister did not directly address these issues or propose concrete solutions.

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Q3 Alex Cunningham Lab
Crime & Law Enforcement Justice & Courts
Context

The MP noted that rape and serious sexual assault cases now make up one in seven of the backlog, with an average wait time for trial after charge at 18 months.

Question

Rape and serious sexual assault cases have increased to 10.3% of all Crown court cases and there are nearly 10,000 of them. The average wait time for a trial has risen to 18 months. There is also a tenfold increase in adjourned cases due to the fall in the number of RASSO prosecution or defence barristers. How will this staffing crisis across the criminal justice system be fixed?

Answer from Mike Freer

The figure for the average time for a RASSO case is not true. The Government have continued to invest in ensuring that RASSO cases are brought forward. Listing is a matter for the judiciary, who ensure vulnerable victims are dealt with expeditiously. We continue to invest in the legal aid system, recently increasing fees and engaging with the criminal legal aid review.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked about fixing the staffing crisis and addressing wait times for RASSO cases; the Minister did not directly address these issues or propose concrete solutions.

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