Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made on the impact of court backlogs on length of bail times.

Our decisive action in the Courts kept justice moving during the face of an unprecedented pandemic and as a result, the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court had reduced from 60,400 cases in June 2021 to 57,300 cases at the end of March 2022.

However, the caseload increased again from April, primarily due to the Criminal Bar Association action, and stood at 62,500 at the end of October. Thanks to actions taken to restore Crown Court operations, including removing the limit of sitting days in the Crown Court, extending Nightingale courts, and increasing Magistrates’ Court sentencing powers, the caseload has now decreased and stood at 61,900 at the end of November.

Information about the length of time that individuals spend on bail is not centrally recorded in the Court Proceeding Database held by Ministry of Justice and to obtain it would involve a manual interrogation of court records which would result in a disproportionate cost to the department.

HMPPS provides temporary accommodation as an alternative to custody, if deemed appropriate by the courts. Approved Premises (APs) and Community Accommodation Service-Tier 2 (formerly the Bail Accommodation Support Services (BASS)) are a community-based alternative to custody that can be used by Courts, in conjunction with other conditions including electronic monitoring. We are increasing these provisions, so that courts can bail more defendants where that course of action is appropriate.