Further action needed on trial backlog: Audit Scotland
The Scottish Government needs to put a delivery plan in place as soon as possible, to reduce the backlog of solemn criminal cases awaiting trial, according to a report by Audit Scotland published today.
In its report the public body monitor notes that clearing the backlog of cases involving the most serious offences is proving much more difficult than summary cases, with average waiting times having more than doubled since 2020. The backlog is not expected to be fully cleared until March 2026, compared with March 2024 for summary cases. Time spent on remand has markedly increased, with 90% of those departing custody from remand in 2021-22 doing so within 139 days, compared with 63 days in the year before the pandemic.
Additional court capacity and innovations such as remote jury centres in cinemas have seen the number of outstanding trials (solemn and summary) drop from a peak of 43,606 in January 2022 to 28,029 in February 2023, with "good use of modelling data by the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service" informing this approach. The Scottish Government committed over £100m to support the recovery programme, with a further £40m committed for 2023-24. However the backlog of solemn trials continued to grow until January 2023, albeit at reducing rates; and there has been a year’s delay to the publication of the Government’s delivery plan for continued recovery and reform of the criminal justice system, which was due in August 2022 but is now expected by summer 2023.
Audit Scotland finds that the impacts of initiatives to support recovery and transformation "have not been consistently evaluated". It further notes that key risks to continuing recovery and successful reform include "staffing pressures in the legal profession" – in particular defence practitioners. There are also different views on the future use of technologies, such as virtual trials, which will need to be reconciled.
It calls on the Scottish Government, in the next three to six months, to make it a priority to finalise and publish its three-year delivery plan supporting the Vision for Justice in Scotland; to "effectively consult stakeholders" about its vision and priorities for transformational change projects; and to work with the Criminal Justice Board and change programme boards to ensure user experiences are consistently considered within change programmes and are used to inform projects.
Within 12 months it should "develop clear programme management arrangements for the transformational change programmes" to address weaknesses, with clear action plans, defined outcomes, appropriate success measures and arrangements for reporting progress publicly; and over the next two years it should consult with SCTS and relevant partners around wider legislative changes required to support the ongoing transformation of the criminal courts system.
There should be further joint work with SCTS over the next 12-18 months to carry out evaluations at key stages of projects within the criminal justice transformational change programmes; and (with other interested organisations) to develop equality impact assessments for all projects being taken forward through these programmes – equality issues not having been consistently considered to date.
The report states that the delivery plan is "critical for ensuring work continues to modernise the criminal justice system, and that it both meets and reflects the needs of people in Scotland, such as women and children, who are disproportionately negatively impacted within the current system".
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, commented: "The criminal trial backlog that built up during the pandemic has been substantially reduced thanks to effective partnership working, good use of data and innovation.
"But while the overall number has come down, the wait times for the most serious crimes, such as rape, have increased. And those delays come with a human cost for victims, witnesses and defendants.
"That is why it’s vital that the Scottish Government has a delivery plan in place as soon as possible to further address the backlog and reform the criminal courts system."
Promising a delivery plan in the summer, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We welcome Audit Scotland's report, which recognises the hard work of justice partners during the Covid pandemic and the significant progress made in reducing the subsequent backlog of criminal trials.
"We know how distressing delays to cases can be for all involved, and have been working with partners to mitigate the impact of the backlog.
"This includes expanding the use of pre-recorded evidence and introducing legal aid reforms to reduce the number of cases that need to proceed to trial."