Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog of court cases in Lincolnshire.

We have interpreted this question as in reference to the Crown Court outstanding caseload in Lincolnshire. We inherited a record and rising Crown Court backlog from the previous Government and we are committed to tackling it.

We are pursuing a number of measures at a national level that will contribute to the reduction of outstanding cases in Lincolnshire.

The Crown Court outstanding caseload remains one of the biggest challenges facing the Criminal Justice System. We have already shown we are committed to bearing down on the caseload and bringing waiting times down.

This Government has increased the number of Crown Court sitting days to 106,500, more than in six out of the last seven years. We will soon extend magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months, freeing up 2,000 days in the Crown Court to handle the most serious cases.

Judges have been prioritising rape cases that have been waiting for over two years to go to trial. Despite this, there are some cases in the outstanding caseload which are taking far too long to progress through the system. We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve. This is why we have committed to fast-tracking rape cases through the courts, to deliver swift and effective justice to some of the most vulnerable victims in the criminal justice system, and will say more on this in due course.

Alongside this, we consistently invest in the recruitment of c.1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions annually alongside continuing to use 18 Nightingale courtrooms across eight venues to hear more cases.

At Lincoln Crown Court specifically, we have expanded physical capacity of the HMCTS estate by creating a permanent fourth Crown Courtroom based in Lincoln Magistrates Court. As a result, we also plan to sit 903 sitting days this financial year at Lincoln Crown Court, this is an increase from 885 sitting days in the last financial year (FY23/24). An uplift in sitting days has taken place across East Midlands in response to growing Crown Court caseload pressures.