Cuts to central government spending on the criminal justice system have pushed it close to “breaking point”, an influential committee of MPs has warned.
Central spending on criminal justice has fallen by 26% since 2010, and the latest report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says the criminal justice system remains “bedevilled by long standing poor performance” including major delays in court cases, and a culture in which costs are “shunted from one part of the system to another”.
PAC’s report points out that around two-thirds of trials in crown courts are delayed or do not go ahead, with a backlog of nearly 52,000 cases awaiting a crown court hearing as of last September.
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And the committee says the Ministry of Justice has been “too slow to recognise where the system is under stress”, and has “exhausted the scope to cut costs without pushing the system beyond breaking point”.
PAC’s report adds: “In some areas, even if the court makes use of its full allowance of sitting days, there are not enough judges to hear all the cases. The number of Crown Prosecution Service lawyers has fallen by 27% since March 2010, and we were concerned to hear that the CPS struggle to find counsel to prosecute cases, as the criminal bar has reduced in size.
“Too little thought has been given to the consequences of cutbacks" - Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier
“The ministry did not respond quickly enough to the backlog of cases building up as the number of longer, more complex cases, including historical sex abuse, rose at a time when available sitting days had been cut.”
The committee urges the MoJ to work with the CPS to gain a “better understanding of the likely consequences of cutting available resources”, and while it welcomes the ministry’s “ambitious” reform programme — which aims to cut reliance on paper records and improve digital working — it points out that it will take four years for the benefits of that scheme to be delivered “in full”.
It adds: “To really see an improvement in performance, the ministry will also need to change cultures and behaviours, so that everyone is incentivised to do the best job they can and act in the best interests of the system as a whole.”
Devolution risks "adding more complexity to an already fragmented system"
PAC also sounds a note of caution about recently-announced plans to devolve some criminal justice powers away from Whitehall, questioning whether regional authorities will have the capacity to take on the new responsibilities.
Chancellor George Osborne used this year’s Budget to announce that the MoJ would hand new powers over the criminal justice system to Greater Manchester, as part of the government’s wider decentralisation agenda.
MoJ perm sec Richard Heaton told PAC during its inquiry that the planned transfer of justice powers still required “quite a lot of detail to be worked out”, but said it was likely to include giving Manchester more say over the location of court buildings; the education of prisoners; and “possibly” some element of prison spending on female offenders.
And he said he did not expect a transfer of MoJ staff from its Whitehall HQ to Greater Manchester to support the new deal.
The committee’s report says devolution “might present opportunities to improve local cooperation”, but says it could also “risk adding more complexity to an already fragmented system”.
“The ministry could not provide many further details, or confirm whether staff will be relocated to support the devolved responsibilities,” PAC says.
PAC points out that Police forces, the CPS and the courts service are currently “organised differently at regional level and area boundaries rarely correspond”, which can cause problems at local level.
The committee adds: “The selective devolution of powers may add to the confusion. We are reassured that the ministry will continue to be accountable to Parliament for the delivery of criminal justice in the devolved areas and that national standards for the system will still apply. It is not clear, though, exactly what might actually be devolved in practice.”
"We welcome this report and will reflect on the recommendations" - Ministry of Justice spokesperson
The MoJ is urged to “learn the lessons of devolution in other areas of government” and MPs ask the department to set out “clearly by the end of September 2016 what it is trying to achieve and how it will monitor whether devolution is working”.
Responding to PAC’s report, a spokesperson for the MoJ said justice secretary Michael Gove had “been clear that our criminal justice system needs urgent reform” and said the department had “embarked on comprehensive measures to improve our prisons and courts”.
They added: “Our plans will bring modern technology into our courts to better meet the needs of everyone who uses our services, and will replace ageing and ineffective prisons with new buildings designed to support rehabilitation. We welcome this report and will reflect on the recommendations.”
PAC chair Meg Hillier said an effective criminal justice system was the “cornerstone of civil society” — something she said was now “at risk”.
Hillier added: “Too little thought has been given to the consequences of cutbacks with the result that the system’s ability to deliver justice, together with its credibility in the eyes of the public, is under threat.
“Our report paints a stark picture of the human cost of critical failings in management from the top down.”