Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the backlog in court cases on levels of reoffending.

This Government is tackling the causes of reoffending to make our streets safer. We are investing in probation services and new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime.

Over the past 10 years, reoffending rates have been in general decline with the overall rate falling from 31.6% in 2010/11 to 24.4% in 2020/21.

Since reoffending is measured over a 12 month follow up period, plus a six-month waiting period to allow offences to be proven in court, these latest offender cohorts have overlapped with national lockdowns and a period of on-going recovery for the courts. As a result, volatility continues to be seen in the reoffending figures. It is not possible to separately identify the impact of the backlog in court cases from other factors on reoffending rates.