Work of the Ministry of Justice

Status / emerging findings

• MOJ missed 2022 magistrate recruitment target by 48% (achieved only 52% of goal), yet now pursuing 7,000 new magistrates with no demonstrated change in approach or concrete evidence of success
• Four-and-a-half-hour magistrates court trials planned for cases currently taking days in Crown court, raising fairness concerns for defendants facing up to two years imprisonment after brief proceedings
• Department has selectively implemented Leveson part 2 recommendations (national listing, AI assistant, second permanent secretary) without publishing formal government response or clear timeline
• Cumulative budget cuts of 24% per capita since 2007; £700 million capital budget switched to revenue to cover shortfalls; ISG contractor collapse disrupted prison maintenance and fire safety work
• Prison building programme slippage due to planning delays and ISG failure; 14,000 new places still targeted for 2031 with re-tendering costs likely to exceed original contract prices

Why it matters

The MOJ oversees courts and prisons serving millions; if recruitment and reform targets are unachievable, criminal justice delays will worsen and defendants may face unfair trials, while prisons remain unsafe and overcrowded.

Tone arc

Started cooperative and defensive on budget constraints (March 2025), hardened into adversarial scrutiny by April 2026 after committee challenged whether magistrate recruitment targets were credible or fairness safeguards existed for expedited trials.

Key witnesses

Dr Jo Farrar CB OBE (Permanent Secretary, MOJ), Dame Antonia Romeo DCB (former senior MOJ official), James McEwen (Chief Executive, HM Prison and Probation Service), Nick Goodwin (MOJ senior leader), Vikki Slade (Justice Committee member—key interrogator)