Criminal court statistics quarterly: October to December 2016
The latest statistics on type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales for October to December 2016, including use of language interpreter and translation services statistics.
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Details
New for this publication
Interpreters’ data are being included within the Criminal Courts Statistics Quarterly (CCSQ) for the first time, to improve the timeliness of interpreters’ statistics by bringing their publication forward by one month and providing one consolidated publication. This is the last release of interpreters’ data under the old contract and is one quarter behind the criminal courts data in the publication. Under the new contract from June, the reference period will be up to the end of March 2017 to make it consistent throughout the publication.
Within the criminal courts tables, separate timeliness figures for CSA and rape are included for the first time to provide important data around these high profile offences and in response to user requests. The Crown Court Information data, published on the Judicial Office website, is released as management information and includes, for the first time, a plea split for disposals, hearing time, number of hearings and waiting time by offence.
The Crown Court information release is published as management information on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.
The statistics here focus on key trends in case volume and progression through the criminal court system in England and Wales, as well as statistics on the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals. There is also information concerning the enforcement of financial penalties in England and Wales.
- Receipts in magistrates’ courts were higher than disposals in Q4 2016, which resulted in a small increase to the outstanding magistrates’ court caseload from 283,400 in Q3 2016 to 291,300 in Q4 2016, although they were still lower than at Q4 2015 (327,200).
- Outstanding cases in the Crown Court have been gradually decreasing since Q4 2014. Between Q3 2016 and Q4 2016 they declined by 2% to 41,500 cases, the lowest number of outstanding cases since Q1 2013.
- For cases completing in the Crown Court, the average number of days from first listing to completion in the Crown Court rose by 25 days from 193 days in Q3 2016 to 218 days in Q4 2016.
- Hearing times for not guilty trials in the Crown Court have increased in the latest quarter to 15.6 hours in Q4 2016. Hearing times for guilty plea trials have remained fairly steady with a small increase to 1.8 hours into Q4 2016.
- The success rate for completed language interpreter and translation service requests was 96% in Q3 2016, similar to Q2 2016.
Annual criminal court statistics, June 2017
The annual criminal court statistics will include the same content as previous annual publications, such as including updates on unrepresented defendants and regional tables. It will also include new Crown Court tables by offence, such as guilty pleas and hearing times.
Pre-release
In addition to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) professional and production staff, pre-release access to the quarterly statistics of up to 24 hours is granted to the following postholders:
MOJ
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; Minister of State, Courts and justice; Lord Chief Justice; Permanent Secretary; Chief Financial Officer; Director, Criminal Justice Policy; Deputy Director, Victims, Witness and Criminal Justice Delivery; Criminal Court Reform Lead; Head of Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; Attorney General’s Office; 3 Press Officers; 2 Special Advisers and 5 Private Secretaries.
Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Director, Performance, Analysis and Reporting; Deputy Director, Legal Operations; Head of Crown Court Jurisdictional Support Team, Crime & Crown; Head of National Compliance and Enforcement Service Operational Support Team; Head of Operational Performance; MIS Team Leader and Performance Information Manager.