Question to the Ministry of Justice:

What steps HM Courts and Tribunals Service is taking to tackle the backlog of criminal court cases.

COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge for the criminal justice system but HMCTS has worked closely with the judiciary to keep courts open and cases flowing through the system.

HMCTS has led the way internationally in continuing justice; restarting jury trials ahead of all other comparable systems.

We continue to make significant progress on Criminal Courts Recovery. Since August, magistrates’ courts have been consistently completing more cases than they are receiving, dealing with over 21,000 cases each week and tackling the backlog.

In the Crown Court, we’re listing over 150 jury trials and conducting thousands of other hearings each week.