To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on the crown court backlog of the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered on
9 November 2020
Crown courts will continue to operate within COVID-secure guidelines during national lockdown restrictions in England and the national fire-break in Wales. Covid-19 has been an unprecedented challenge for the criminal justice system but HMCTS has worked closely with the judiciary to keep courts open and cases flowing through the system.
We continue to make significant progress on Criminal Courts Recovery in the Crown Court and there are now over 250 rooms safely open for jury trials. We are listing over 200 jury trials and conducting thousands of other hearings each week.