“Within six months of the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State must undertake a review of the impact that delays in the court system have on victims.”—

Brought up, and read the First time.

I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.

New clause 7 calls for a review of court delays and their impact on victims to be conducted within six months of the Bill becoming law. Clearly, the impact of covid on our Crown courts in particular is still being felt within the system. Prior to covid, the Crown court backlog was actually lower than it had been under parts of the previous Labour Administration.

Due to significant investment in recovery efforts to try to address the backlog since the pandemic, including a provision for Nightingale courts and uncapped sitting days, the previous Lord Chancellor was clear that our last provisionally agreed sitting days were to be seen as a floor, not a cap. We support the calls from the Lady Chief Justice for more sitting days, and regret that the Government have only gone part of the way towards meeting the capacity that the Lady Chief Justice said was available within the court system.

Moving forward, it is important that we keep up the scrutiny to ensure that the court system is operating effectively and in the interests of victims. Delays in the court system are not just administrative; they retraumatise victims, reduce conviction rates and push people out of the justice process altogether. This review is urgent and overdue. If we are truly to put victims first, we must understand and act on the toll that these delays take. The Opposition believe that this review will help to focus efforts on reducing those delays to a minimum.

New Clause 7 would require the Secretary of State to assess within six months of Royal Assent the impact of court delays on victims. As the hon. Member will be aware, thanks to his previous Government, this Government inherited a record and rising court backlog. Between 2010 and 2019, the Conservative Government permanently closed more than 260 court buildings as part of a wider estate consolidation. Additionally, historical underfunding has resulted in challenges across the estate, with an estimated £1.3 billion maintenance backlog.

As of December 2024, the Crown court outstanding caseload was over 74,000 cases. Sitting levels have never been higher, but even that is not enough to keep up with the increasing backlog of cases. I recognise the human impact that this can have on victims as they navigate those delays. The recent report by the Victims’ Commissioner truly brought to life the impact of the outstanding Crown court caseload on victims, victims services and the wider criminal justice system. It is clear that more must be done, and that fundamental reform is necessary to address the court backlog.

That is why the Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to propose a once-in-a-generation reform. The review is aimed at achieving a more efficient criminal court system and improved timeliness and swifter justice for victims, witnesses and defendants, without jeopardising the requirement for a fair trial for all involved. The review will also consider the most appropriate and proportionate ways of dealing with cases before the courts, as well as how processes through charge to conviction or acquittal could be improved to maximise efficiency. We expect the review of the report on options for long-term reform in the coming weeks and findings on court efficiency in autumn 2025.

Introducing the duty suggested by the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire would pre-empt the work being undertaken by Sir Brian and could duplicate his efforts. Our focus is, and should be, on responding to his report after its publication and outlining the way forward to address this important issue.

In the meantime, we will continue to provide support for victims, including by funding key support services such as our independent sexual violence and domestic violence advisers. We will also continue to work to improve communication with victims in the pre-trial period. To do that, every CPS area will now have at least one dedicated victim liaison officer in its rape and serious sexual offences unit. Pre-trial meetings are also offered to all adult victims of those crimes. Looking ahead, we will also consult on a new victims code, providing an opportunity to hear views on how we can improve communication with victims while they navigate the delays.

I hope that I have reassured hon. Members that, through Sir Brian’s independent review on criminal courts, we will have an assessment on exactly what action needs to be taken to reduce the delays and pave the way forward to reform. I therefore urge the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire to withdraw the new clause.

We support the work that Sir Brian is doing, but do not feel that the new Clause would contradict or otherwise impede that work. We also do not think that we ought to wait for the conclusions of Sir Brian’s work before acting. For now, we will leave the new clause as a probing Amendment, but we may return to it at a future stage. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.

Clause, by leave, withdrawn.