Policy paper

Government response to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts

The government has published its response to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.

• From: Ministry of Justice
• Published: 12 October 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Government Response to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts

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Government Response to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts (PDF)

Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-6663-3, CP 1682

PDF, 931 KB, 61 pages

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Details

The previous Lord Chancellor commissioned Former President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Lord Brian Leveson, to carry out an independent review into the criminal courts. Specifically, the review considered two key themes, which are outlined in the Terms of Reference (ToR) as follows:

• Reform: how the criminal courts could be reformed to ensure cases are dealt with proportionately, in light of the current pressures on the Crown Court
• Efficiency: how they could operate as efficiently as possible. This should include consideration of the processes of partner agencies where they impact the criminal courts Lord Brian Leveson published Part 1 of the review on 9 July 2025 and Part 2 on 4 February 2026.

The government has now published its response to Part 1 and Part 2 of the review.