Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the reason for the backlog in scheduling criminal trials in London; what is the currently scheduled trial with the longest delay; what proportion of trials are cancelled because of witness withdrawal; and what action they are taking to reduce the backlog.

This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog, due in large part to restrictions on courtroom operations put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic, and subsequent Criminal Bar Association strike action. In addition, over the last 12-months, we have seen an 18.6% increase in new cases for the London Crown Courts.

Listing is a judicial function. HM Courts & Tribunals Service works in liaison with the judiciary reviewing and prioritising cases when listing trials, in accordance with the sitting day allocation.

In some Crown Court centres across the London region, cases listed for trial in June 2025 were given dates in 2028 and 2029 – with a very small number being listed into the summer of 2029. However, the vast majority of the trial load is listed before the end of 2026.

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on ineffective trial rates, and the general reasons behind ineffective trials (including witness absence/withdrawal), here: Criminal court statistics quarterly: January to March 2025 - GOV.UK.

This Government has funded a record-high allocation of Crown Court sitting days – 110,000 days this financial year, 4,000 more than the previous Government – to tackle the outstanding caseload. We also commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to undertake an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to consider the merits of longer-term reform and the efficiency of processes in the criminal courts. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals in more detail before setting out the Government’s full response to the report in the autumn.

As part of our commitment to bearing down on the criminal caseload we have increased magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 months to 12 months’ imprisonment for single triable-either way offences. This will free up capacity in the Crown Court.