Warwickshire Police & Crime Panel: battle against court delays "moving in the right direction"

Warwickshire’s battle to get on top of criminal justice system delays is “moving in the right direction” despite a backdrop of national challenges.

That was the assessment of the county’s Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) Philip Seccombe when fielding a question on backlogs in the courts.

Andrew Davies, one of two independent and non-elected members of Warwickshire Police & Crime Panel, a group mainly comprised of councillors that holds the Police and Crime Commissioner to account, said the panel was “aware of the pressures” but queried how performance and progress was being measured.

“The ultimate outcome is speedy conviction when a crime has been committed,” he said.

“There are delays, ineffective courts, ineffective cases on the day, then it is all about conviction rates. How do we as a panel, and you, measure that performance or progress?”

Mr Seccombe said that performance is discussed with various groups, including the courts, probation service, police, organisations representing victims and defence barristers, and that his office has a dedicated policy officer to deal with criminal justice matters.

He continued: “The big problem at the moment, as I am sure you are all aware, is the backlog in the crown courts.

“Locally, another two courts have been opened in Warwickshire, which is helpful, having lost the Nightingale court which was not helpful.

“One of the problems is a national shortage of judges, nationally quite a lot of new judges have now been appointed.

“There is a problem with young criminal barristers coming into the profession, I think that is probably as a result of remuneration levels, they are not particularly good.

“Having done the hard work to get qualified, a lot of barristers are then not going to the criminal side, they are going to the civil side and other parts of the law.

“There are a number of problems there that the government is acutely aware of, all the agencies are doing everything they can to work more efficiently and closer together.

“There was a case the other day – not in Warwickshire – where a victim of rape had to wait three-and-a-half years to go to court. That is just not acceptable.

“We compare our statistics with other forces and there is a national reporting mechanism where all police forces report on some statistics.”

Mr Davies went on to ask how the Police and Crime Commissioner felt Warwickshire compared on a national level.

“We haven’t got full data to compare ourselves totally,” replied Mr Seccombe.

“I certainly think we are moving in the right direction but we are certainly suffering from challenges that everyone is suffering with.”