Crown Court: Coronavirus

(asked on 21st September 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of cases in the Crown Court caused by the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Gareth Johnson Portrait
Gareth Johnson
This question was answered on 28th September 2022

Over the next three years, we are investing an additional £477 million to reduce the Crown Court backlog and reduce waiting times.

To increase capacity in the criminal justice system, we have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row, extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022 and are extending our plans for judicial recruitment. We also reduced demand into the Crown Court by legislating to retain more cases in the Magistrates’ Courts. These actions will deliver swifter justice for victims and reduce the backlog of cases.

At the Spending Review in September 2021, we stated our ambition to reduce the outstanding caseload to 53,000 by March 2025.

From the second half of 2021 onwards, we started to make some progress in reducing the caseload, reducing the backlog by over 2,000 from its pandemic-induced peak of 61,000 in June 2021 to 58,700 in March 2022.

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