Dominic Raab will launch 'justice scorecards' for courts to help clear the backlog of cases
Dominic Raab will launch ‘justice scorecards’ for courts to clear the backlog of cases caused by Covid.
The Justice Secretary wants people to be able to look up their local court online and check how quickly cases are dealt with.
The new national register will give scores on the speed cases go through the system, and on the ‘quality’ of justice served, measured by the percentage of guilty pleas before cases come to court, as well as the number of cases rearranged because of problems with the prosecution.
Dominic Raab will launch ‘justice scorecards’ for courts to clear the backlog of cases caused by Covid
It will also give a score on ‘victim engagement’, which will look at how many crime victims give up and drop out of the process.
More than 60,000 Crown Court trials were waiting to be heard at the end of June – a 40 per cent rise in a year.
Mr Raab has said he wants ‘granular data’ on how courts are performing across the justice system.
The scorecards will be introduced by the end of this year and data will be updated twice a year to monitor progress, a source said.
The ratings will initially cover the whole of England and Wales, but it is understood the Justice Secretary is keen on introducing scorecards on a more regional level, so that in future members of the public would be able to look at the performance of local courts.
More than 60,000 Crown Court trials were waiting to be heard at the end of June – a 40 per cent rise in a year
