Court Backlog: Sexual
and Violent Crime Victims
(Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
21. What recent assessment he has made of the impact of the court
backlog on the wellbeing of victims of (a) sexual and (b) violent
offences. (900209)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice ()
We are taking action across all jurisdictions to bring backlogs
down and improve waiting times for those who use our courts. I
can confirm that the number of days taken for an adult rape case
to progress from Crown Prosecution Service charge to completion
has fallen by 38 days since the peak in June 2021. That is
encouraging.
Under the leadership of , our police and crime
commissioner, Northumbria
police have invested heavily in victim support. But
they cannot make up for the wholesale failure of the justice
system, with victims telling us that they feel revictimised by
the length of delays and the complexity of the process. Does the
Minister acknowledge that his plan to get the backlog down to
53,000—still a huge number—will not significantly address the
delays? What additional support is he putting in place for the
mental health of victims during these long, long delays?
The hon. Lady asks about what supports are in place; I am
grateful to hear from her police and crime commissioner about the
role that independent sexual violence advisers are playing. I
confirm that we are investing further in victim support services
by increasing funding to £185 million by 2024-25.
And the delays in the courts?
I am coming to those. Of course we want to reduce delays as far
as possible, but, to give a sense of the progress that we are
making, I should say that in March there were 124,000 disposals
in the magistrates courts and 9,280 in the Crown courts. Those
are the highest figures for both since the pandemic. They show
that output is increasing. That is why the backlog is now
falling; we expect it to continue falling further.
