Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help support victims of historic miscarriages of justice to appeal their convictions.

Where the normal time limit for appeals through the courts has passed and where an individual believes they have been wrongly convicted of a crime in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, including in historic cases, they can apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which is an independent public body funded by the Ministry of Justice. The CCRC can investigate and where it considers that there is a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld were the reference to be made, can refer cases back to the courts.

There is no time limit on any application and the service is free.

To ensure that the appeals system is working effectively, the Government has asked the Law Commission to conduct an independent and wide-ranging Review of the appeals system. The Review will consider the issues raised by the Westminster Commission (2021) on miscarriages of justice, which includes the tests used by the CCRC and the Court of Appeal, and the government will then consider the review’s findings, and any recommendations for change in the law, very carefully.