Justice Committee issues a call for evidence to inform its scrutiny of the Courts and Tribunals Bill

The Justice Committee has issued a call for evidence to inform its scrutiny of the Courts and Tribunals Bill.

The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 February 2026 and has its Second reading debate on 10 March. Dates for Committee stage are yet to be confirmed.

Overview

In brief, the Bill aims to:

• make structural changes to the operation of the criminal courts in England and Wales based on recommendations made in Part One of Sir Brian Leveson's Independent Review of the Criminal Courts;
• reform the law on evidence and procedure in sexual offence prosecutions, drawing on recommendations from the Law Commission;
• repeal the presumption of parental involvement in the Children Act 1989;
• modernise operational and leadership arrangements across courts and tribunals; and
• make certain other technical and administrative reforms.

Call for evidence

To help inform our work, we would welcome evidence from interested groups and individuals. We are inviting submissions of no more than 3,000 words on any of the clauses in the Bill. Your submission may focus on one clause, or more, in either or both Parts of the Bill and may also consider the Bill's overall policy objectives.

By way of overview, the clauses in the Bill are as follows:

Part 1 – Procedure in the Criminal Courts

• Clauses 1 and 2 implement the removal of the defendant's right to elect;
• Clauses 3, 4 and 5 create the framework for the Crown Court Bench Division;
• Clause 6 increases magistrates' sentencing powers;
• Clause 7 and Schedule 2 relate to appeals from magistrates' courts;
• Clause 8 to 11 relate to the admissibility of evidence in sexual offence prosecutions;
• Clauses 12 to 16 relate to access to special measures for eligible victims and witnesses;

Part 2 – Other provision about courts and tribunals

• Clause 17 repeals the presumption of parental involvement in the Children Act 1989;
• Clause 18 and Schedule 3 relate to the leadership of tribunals;
• Clause 19 relates to Lay justices' allowances; and
• Clause 20 relates to the Crown Court sitting in the City of London.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Wednesday 11 March 2026. The submissions will be used to inform the Committee's scrutiny work on the Bill, including an oral evidence session on 17 March, as well as that of individual Parliamentarians.

Chair comment

Chair of the Justice Committee, Andy Slaughter MP, said: “Today the Justice Committee is launching a call for evidence following Wednesday's publication of the Courts and Tribunals Bill.

“The Bill outlines the Government's planned structural changes to the operation of the Criminal Courts in England and Wales based on the recommendations made in Sir Brian Leveson's Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, Part I. These reforms include controversial proposals on how and where cases will be tried. 

“To help inform our legislative scrutiny work, the Committee is inviting evidence submissions from interested groups and individuals on any of the clauses in the Bill and its overall policy objectives. This could include the role of the Magistrates' Court under the Government's proposals, the time savings to be achieved by the reforms and the issue of retrospectivity. 

“It is imperative that in bringing forward these proposed reforms the Government explains exactly what type and number of cases will lose the right to a jury trial and how much this will contribute to reducing the backlog. Any such changes need to be evidence-based, and the Committee will examine the details of the Bill in the coming weeks, informed by this call for evidence.”