Lammy to lift cap on court sitting days to cut cases backlog

A cap on court sitting days is to be lifted as the government seeks to reduce a backlog of cases, Justice Secretary David Lammy has announced.

Every crown court in England and Wales will be funded to hear as many cases as possible next year, he said.

Lammy added he is also going to push for reforms including ramping up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to tackle the court backlog which currently stands at 80,000 criminal cases.

The Criminal Bar Association said it was a "brave and significant first step" but the government needs to recruit and retain criminal barristers and solicitors.

The bill is yet to go before Parliament.

It comes after Lammy announced in December that jury trials in England and Wales for crimes that carry a likely sentence of less than three years will be scrapped.

"This government inherited a justice system on the brink of collapse with victims facing unacceptable delays and we took immediate action to increase sitting days to deliver fairer and faster justice for victims," Lammy said in a statement on Tuesday.

"But victims still face intolerable delays. That is why I have agreed with the judiciary to fund unlimited sitting days in the Crown Court next year so they can sit at their maximum and so we can turn the tide on the backlog as quickly as possible."

Freeing judges to hear as many cases as the system can support "will mean more victims see justice done - and more offenders face the full force of the law", the Ministry of Justice said.

The government has agreed a £2.7bn funding for courts and tribunals for the next year, up from £2.5bn last year.

The Criminal Bar Association welcomed the announcement.

"Complainants, witnesses, defendants, and all who work in the Criminal Justice System, will be hugely relieved as removing the cap on sitting days is the single most important measure which the government can take to bring down the backlog, and reduce the delays," it said.

But there will be "further work to do to give effect to this change," it said.

"This includes the need to recruit and retain the criminal barristers and solicitors who prosecute and defend in criminal courts."

Sir Brian Leveson, a retired senior judge, recently released two reports commissioned by ministers as part of an attempt to reverse the backlogs that had reached record levels before Labour came into power, but have continued to worsen since then.

In his December announcement, Lammy announced reforms that would include creating "swift courts" to tackle unprecedented delays in the court system.

He said the reforms were "bold" but "necessary", but the Conservatives described the plans as the "beginning of the end of jury trials".