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<p>Data collated centrally by MOJ does not include a count of ‘abandoned’ trials.
Rather, trials are recorded as ‘ineffective’, meaning, that does not go ahead on the
scheduled trial date and 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.</p><p> </p><p>There
has been an increase in ineffective trials during the pandemic, partly driven by defendants
being ill due to Covid. We continue to take action to tackle the impact the pandemic
has had on our courts and tribunals system. We invested a quarter of a billion pounds
to support recovery in the last financial year (20/21). In the recent Spending Review,
more than £1 billion has been allocated to boost capacity and accelerate recovery
from the pandemic in courts and tribunals. This increased funding will enable us to
hear more cases and reduce backlogs. We removed the limit on the number of days the
Crown Court can sit in the 21/22 financial year and as a result of this, in the next
financial year we expect to get through 20% more Crown Court cases than we did pre-Covid
(116,700 in 22/23 compared to 97,000 in 19/20).</p><p> </p><p>We have also been asked
to provide data on how many trials for offences of rape, sexual assault and indecent
assault have been abandoned from their start dates and are awaiting a new start date
as of 17 February 2022. However, the total number of trials for rape, sexual assault
and indecent assault would include those where a new trial date is not required (e.g.
a plea has changed to guilty), so we are not able to accurately answer that question.</p><p>We
have provided data on ineffective trial reasons where the sole reason is no advocate
being available for one or both sides in the attached document. The data for each
calendar year includes the figures as of 31<sup>st</sup> December of that year. For
2021, we provide data up to the 30<sup>th</sup> September which is the latest data
available. This data shows that before the pandemic, the numbers of ineffective trials
were falling significantly across all the offence types listed.</p><p> </p>
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