By Gavin Mackintosh-
The Ministry Of Justice has failed to explain when it will invest half a billion pounds (£477m) in the criminal justice system over the next three years which it states will help to tackle backlogs in courts.
The Ministry of Justice said it has spent £250m so far on dealing with the impact of the pandemic , and recently announced plans to invest nearly half a billion pounds (£477m) in the criminal justice system over the next three years to help to tackle backlogs in courts and tribunals.
Three official representatives of the MOJ were unable to explain to The Eye Of Media.Com when the huge funds will actually be put into action, leading to questions as to whether the department has hurriedly made announcements it can’t prove to be accurate.
The plans of how and when the funds will be allocated may not yet in be in place, but announced plans with no time table to execute them become questionable.
After the MOJ lifted the limit it originally placed on sitting days at courts across the Uk, in a bid to clear the backlog of cases caused by Covid closure, it announced that there will no longer be any restrictions on the number of days the Crown Court can sit for the new financial year.
The ruling, announced by the Ministry of Justice last Thursday, is part of a raft of measures to ensure more trials can take place, delivering swifter justice for victims, and reducing the backlog of cases which rose significantly due to the pandemic.
The same decision last year meant that nearly 17,000 more days were sat in the Crown Court than the year prior to the pandemic, the MOJ said.
The Uk was among the first in the world to resume jury trials, and the number of outstanding cases in the Crown Court has fallen by around 2,500 since its peak in June 2021. This still doesn’t prove another half a billion is about to be added to the system of speeding up court cases- the announcement of impressive sums of money needs to be backed up.
Over 60 Crown courtrooms previously unavailable due to the pandemic have been reopened in the last year and 30 Nightingale courtrooms, originally commissioned to provide extra capacity for socially-distanced trials, will stay open until March 2023. This includes the one that was set up at Cloth Hall Court in Leeds city centre.
The Ministry said an estimated 500 Crown courtrooms are now available for hearings and trials, due to an increase on spending on criminal legal aid by £135m a year, including a fee increase which will see a typical criminal barrister earning nearly £7,000 extra annually.
It also includes a roll out video technology to over 70 % of all courtrooms, which includes the opening of 3,265 virtual court rooms across all jurisdictions .The courts currently hold an estimated 13,600 hearings per week, compared to just a handful before the pandemic.
Other changes to legislation includes doubling the sentencing powers available to magistrates from six months to a year to free up an estimated 1,700 extra sitting days of Crown Court time each year.
The statutory mandatory retirement age has also been raised from 70 to 75 for judicial office holders, which it is expected will retain an extra 400 judges and tribunal members and 2,000 magistrates per year across all jurisdictions.
The Ministry of Justice is also to be grilled by MPs this week over its controversial legal aid proposals immediately after hearing evidence from the leaders of the major representative bodies.