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Crown Court: Harrow

Answer

An ineffective trial is one that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date, so a further listing is required. This can be due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence, or the court.

The Ministry of Justice collates and publishes data on the volume of trials that were ineffective at the Crown Court including reasons in the ‘Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool’ on a quarterly basis. The latest period included covers January to March 2026. Data is available at a Crown Court level using the filter ‘crown_court_and_magistrates_lja’.Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK

We asked Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to make recommendations to tackle inefficiencies within the criminal courts, including the causes of ineffective trials. We will publish our full response to Sir Brian’s review in due course, but we have already taken steps to deliver swifter justice through significant investment in the system – in record sitting days (increasing judicial capacity), court buildings and technology, and in legal professionals with significant investment in legal aid. In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister has already announced several initial measures we are taking forward to drive efficiency and reduce ineffective trials.

This includes the introduction of case coordinators in every Crown Court centre and supporting the Lady Chief Justice to publish the first ever National Listing Framework and pilot an AI Listing Assistant. We are also working with the Department for Transport and local authorities to expand the number of areas where prison transport vans can use bus lanes to reduce traffic delays - reducing wasted court time.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

15023

Session

2026-27

Subjects

Criminal proceedings Crown Court Trials Harrow

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk