Government's funding announcement to improve courts and prisons
APCC response to the Government’s announcement on an extra £285 million-worth of improvements to courts and prisons
Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Katy Bourne OBE said:
“On behalf of all Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), I welcome the announcement from the Ministry of Justice which sees £153m invested to improve court and tribunal buildings and a further £37m being made available to invest in technology. This has the added bonus of involving hundreds of local businesses to help deliver the work and, in turn, give a much-needed boost to the economy, which has greatly suffered due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“PCCs are the victims’ champions locally in the criminal justice system and we have been working with partners to help transform it and bring it into the 21st century to provide a better experience and outcome for victims of crime and bring offenders to justice.”
APCC Lead for Criminal Justice, David Lloyd, and Deputy Lead, Sue Mountstevens said: “PCCs play an important role as local senior leaders in the criminal justice system. We have been working closely with CJS partners to ensure that the challenges to the local CJS brought by Covid-19 are being effectively tackled, in particular, the backlog of cases in our courts, but also, going forward, that we seize the opportunity to transform and improve our CJS . The funding announced by the Ministry of Justice is welcome and should help with the work to drive forward improvements in the CJS.”