To ask the Minister of Justice to detail how she plans to resolve (i) the issues barristers have with the timely and adequate payment of Legal Aid; and (ii) the backlog of cases due to be processed by our criminal justice system.

Officials in my department have worked tirelessly throughout the year and have secured additional funding for legal aid to reflect the level of demand for payment in respect of cases completed. The opening allocation for 2023/24 was £93.385m and with additional funding the budget now stands at £106.3m. The value of bills received continues to be high and this level of demand will be factored into discussions on the 2024/25 budget. This is an example of the impact of inadequate funding of the department. Additional resources will be required to address the demand for payment of bills submitted. Current operational performance can be found at https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/lsa-operational-performance-2023-2024

In terms of plans to resolve the backlog of cases due to be processed by the criminal justice system, at the outset of the pandemic, the criminal justice system responded rapidly and innovatively so that confidence in the system was maintained and to ensure the safety of staff, those who use the system and those in our care. Key justice organisations (including PSNI, PPS, NICTS and the Department) and the judiciary have worked collaboratively to a system wide shared priority of recovery, in addition to individual recovery plans.

New ways of working were introduced, for example making better use of technology and digital platforms, which have had long term benefits for the justice system.

Justice organisations successfully bid for additional resources during the years post Covid-19 up to and including 2023/24. The additional resources enabled collaborative efforts to be continued to sustain an increased throughput in courts of up to 115% capacity. Bids for funding in 2024/25 have been included in the recent Future Year Budget planning exercise.

The Criminal Justice Board has prioritised a programme of work targeted at reducing avoidable delay within the system. This incorporates the efforts to recover the system, reducing backlogs and progresses work for long-term change.

This work is built around five key workstreams and will take forward existing work on committal reform, existing and emerging work in the digital arena and explore other areas for efficiencies such as early engagement, court remits and out of court disposals.

The system is presently under considerable pressure, dealing with increased caseload and although progress is being made, it will take time and resources to resolve this issue. There is no doubt the future financial outlook presents challenges to the resolving the backlog.