Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the length of time it will take to clear the backlog in the criminal courts of England and Wales.

COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge for the criminal justice system, but we have kept courts open and cases flowing through the system throughout. The UK has been a global leader and we are ahead of comparable systems.

HMCTS has now published a Court Recovery Plan, which sets out that court operating hours will be extended, alternative venues will be used as courts to increase capacity and the use of the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) will be rolled out into all Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. Further measures to increase jury trial capacity are also being explored. The Court Recovery Plan can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus

Public confidence requires cases to be dealt with in a timely manner and the backlog must be addressed. This goal will require ambition from the whole system. We have recently announced a record investment in court infrastructure and maintenance. We’re recruiting more court staff and we will shortly be making an announcement on use of additional court centres.