Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the longest waiting time was for a case to be heard in a criminal court in England and Wales once referred, as of the most recent data available.

We have interpreted your question to be asking for information on the longest time a case has taken to have its first hearing at a criminal court from the point of crime referral.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold data regarding timeliness from the date of crime referral.

The Department publishes quarterly timeliness data concerning the criminal courts in the ‘End-to-end timeliness tool (Crown Court)’ and ‘Magistrates’ courts timeliness tool’, at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK.

These Accredited Official Statistics present the latest statistics on type and volume of cases that are received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales, including multiple measures of timeliness. The statistics give a summary overview of the volume of cases and defendants dealt with by these courts over time, including further breakdowns of available timeliness stages, offence groups and factors impacting case flow (plea, remand and case type).