Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

21. What recent assessment he has made of the impact of the court backlog on the wellbeing of victims of (a) sexual and (b) violent offences.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (James Cartlidge)]

We are taking action across all jurisdictions to bring backlogs down and improve waiting times for those who use our courts. I can confirm that the number of days taken for an adult rape case to progress from Crown Prosecution Service charge to completion has fallen by 38 days since the peak in June 2021. That is encouraging.

[Chi Onwurah]

Under the leadership of Kim McGuinness, our police and crime commissioner, Northumbria police have invested heavily in victim support. But they cannot make up for the wholesale failure of the justice system, with victims telling us that they feel revictimised by the length of delays and the complexity of the process. Does the Minister acknowledge that his plan to get the backlog down to 53,000—still a huge number—will not significantly address the delays? What additional support is he putting in place for the mental health of victims during these long, long delays?

[James Cartlidge]

The hon. Lady asks about what supports are in place; I am grateful to hear from her police and crime commissioner about the role that independent sexual violence advisers are playing. I confirm that we are investing further in victim support services by increasing funding to £185 million by 2024-25.

[Chi Onwurah]

And the delays in the courts?

[James Cartlidge]

I am coming to those. Of course we want to reduce delays as far as possible, but, to give a sense of the progress that we are making, I should say that in March there were 124,000 disposals in the magistrates courts and 9,280 in the Crown courts. Those are the highest figures for both since the pandemic. They show that output is increasing. That is why the backlog is now falling; we expect it to continue falling further.