National Audit Office attacks justice system inefficiencies and delays
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Version 0 of 1. Complex sex abuse, organised crime and terrorism cases are creating longer delays on an already inefficient criminal justice system, the National Audit Office has said. Despite falls in the number of prosecutions, the report points out the two-thirds of trials do not go ahead on their scheduled day and concludes that the system is “not currently delivering value for money”. Trial waiting times have increased by a third since 2013. The report noted wide regional differences in performance: in Wales, a victim of crime has a seven in 10 chance of their case proceeding on the scheduled day; in Manchester it is only two in 10. The mix of cases is changing, the NAO noted. There has been a 12% increase in the number of sex offence cases sent to the crown court over the last five years – up from 9,178 in 2010-11 to 10,309 in 2014-15. That trend is expected to continue. Historical and child sex abuse cases bring in vulnerable victims and witnesses, requiring additional support. Prosecutions for terrorism, organised crime, drugs and fraud are also growing. “These cases can involve complex evidence and trials with multiple defendants,” the report said. “The average length of a crown court trial increased from 11.5 hours in 2010-11 to 14.6 hours in the year to September 2015 … The average length of cases at Birmingham crown court has nearly doubled from 13.3 hours during April to August 2014 to 24.5 hours for the same period in 2015.” Abolition of preparatory committal hearings in 2013, it is thought, may account for some of the increase. Last year the Crown Prosecution Service spent £21.5m preparing cases that were not heard in court. Crown court backlogs grew by 34% between March 2013 and September 2015; average waiting times for a crown court hearing increased by 35% to 134 over the same period. While acknowledging conflicts of interest between prosecution and defence, the NAO is nevertheless critical of failures such as court over-booking. “Courts staff, acting under judicial direction … [are] scheduling more trials than can be heard so that there are back ups when one trial cannot proceed,” it said. There have been some improvements in the management of magistrates’ case, the NAO accepted. Deep cuts in spending have not helped: spending on the criminal justice system has fallen by 26% in real terms since 2010-11 and is to drop by a further 15% by 2020. The Ministry of Justice has pledged £700m to introduce more efficient digital working. That investment on its own will not solve the problem, the NAO fears. “The system as a whole is inefficient because its individual parts have strong incentives to work in ways that create cost elsewhere,” its report said. “As there is no common view of what success looks like, organisations may not act in the best interests of the whole system … Delays and aborted hearings create extra work, waste scarce resources and undermine confidence in the system.” Other problems identified include poor initial charging decisions by police and CPS, inadequate preparation before trials, failures to deliver defendants to court from prison and failures by prosecutors to disclose evidence to the defence. Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: “Delays and aborted hearings create extra work, waste scarce resources, and undermine confidence in the system. “Some of the challenges are longstanding and complex – others are the results of basic avoidable mistakes. The ambitious reform programme led by the [MoJ, courts service], CPS and judiciary has the potential to improve value for money by providing tools to help get things right first time, but will not in itself address all of the causes of inefficiency. “It is essential that the criminal justice system pulls together and takes collective responsibility for sorting out the longstanding issues.” A MoJ spokesperson said: “We welcome this report and will reflect on its recommendations. The MoJ is embarking on a radical reform of the criminal justice system. As the justice secretary has said, our criminal justice system is in need of urgent reform. “Our courts are archaic and slow, and their out of date processes do not meet the needs of the public. That is why we are investing a record £700m to build a justice system that is swifter and more certain. We will use modern technology to meet the needs of everyone who uses our services.” I |