Issue 196  5th June 2021

The Lord Chancellor spoke at the Law Society to thank the hidden heroes who kept justice moving during the COVID-19 pandemic and outlined his plans for recovering the system, as well as propelling it towards a better future.

We will soon publish the end-to-end Rape Review report, which includes an ambitious plan of action to address the way the Criminal Justice System responds to this sickening crime. It will look broadly at how we can improve the support we give to victims of rape and enable the system to do a better job of putting rapists where they belong – which is behind bars... We also want to build on the historic Domestic Abuse Act that received Royal Assent in April. So, later this year we will publish a new strategy for tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, so that we can get a grip on those men who would seek to use their power and privilege to abuse women and girls in our country... I am determined to enable the Crown Courts to hear cases much quicker once they are ready for listing, so that victims do not spend a second longer in the system than necessary; and so that suspects and defendants, for whom the concept of innocent until proven guilty must never be diluted, get resolutions to their cases as quickly as possible. I am quite frankly prepared to do everything within my power as Lord Chancellor to make that happen, as I have demonstrated by the actions I have taken to date – creating more hearing rooms, making courts COVID secure, and hiring extra staff... Extending live links in criminal proceedings and ensuring there is a sound infrastructure for remote participation across all jurisdictions will assist with the effort to recover the courts, to maximise appropriate use of remote working and to deliver a service that is more accessible for everybody...

The Lord Chief Justice has authorised for use with the Criminal Procedure Rules a revised Preparation for Effective Trial form for use in magistrates’ courts and a new youth court version of the PET form. The forms are for use on and after Monday 7 June 2021. The Criminal Procedure Rules: Forms page now includes those new forms. There is new guidance, too, for using the forms which is meant for defendants who are not represented by lawyers.

Body cameras will be worn by all NHS paramedics in England to try and curb increasing levels of violence against frontline staff. The maximum punishment for assaulting an emergency worker will soon have quadrupled since 2018 under new laws being passed. Yet still attacks on ambulance staff continue to rise, even as they keep the country safe during the Covid pandemic. NHS England data showed that 3,569 ambulance employees said they were assaulted in 2020/21 – a 32% rise in five years.

Rape victims will have all the data on their mobile phones copied by police within a day as part of radical plans to help drive up conviction rates. Ministers believe victims have been deterred from making allegations for fear of going without their phones while police investigate. The plan is part of a review led by Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, and Priti Patel, the home secretary, to raise rape conviction rates. The proportion of allegations ending in conviction has fallen from 8.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent in the past five years.

More than half of case files sent to prosecutors by Britain’s biggest police force last year were rejected and sent back for more detective work. Metropolitan Police officers failed to hand over key evidence and were asked to provide more material, such as witness statements. Just over 48 per cent of the Met’s files met the requirements of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2020, according to figures provided by the force.