Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of (a) Magistrate Court, (b) Crown Court and (c) County Court trials that have collapsed due to (i) delay and (ii) error by the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last five years.

We have interpreted this question as an estimate of the proportion of ineffective trials at the criminal courts that have not gone ahead on the day as planned in the last 5 years. We do not hold data that details delay or error by the Crown Prosecution Service. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is also not involved in County Court proceedings and therefore the answer to this question covers the criminal jurisdiction only.

There are multiple reasons why a trial may not go ahead on the day, as planned. These include other cases over-running and there being insufficient court time, prosecution or defence witnesses being absent, the defendant not attending when required and either the prosecution or defence not being ready to proceed.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on trial effectiveness for a wide range of reasons, up to and including data to December 2023, in the Trial Effectiveness at the Criminal Courts tool. This can be downloaded from the latest Criminal Court Statistics publication here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2023.

Our latest published data at the end of December 2023 shows that the ineffective trial rate at the Crown Court sat at 27%. Similarly, the ineffective trial rate at the Magistrates’ Court sat at 22%.

Across all jurisdictions, we are working closely with partners across the justice system to improve readiness of cases for hearing at court and reduce delays. This includes the use of Case Coordinators to improve adherence to the principles of Better Case Management. These principles link key initiatives to improve the way cases are processed through the system, covering areas such as robust case management, reduced but more effective hearings, and compliance with the rules and directions of the criminal court. The proof-of-concept is currently scheduled to conclude in August 2025, and the full evaluation at that point will test the business case for any further rollout.

The Criminal Courts Improvement Group (CCIG), chaired by the Senior Presiding Judge, works to improve adherence to Better Case Management Principles. CCIG focuses on improving efficiency across the system and aims to improve case management practices.