Debate contribution: The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Provisions Relating to Live Links for Courts and Tribunals) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 4 November 2025.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

4 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Provisions Relating to Live Links for Courts and Tribunals) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5216910

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

I seek the Assembly's approval for the Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Provisions Relating to Live Links for Courts and Tribunals) (No. 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025, SR 2025/151. I am grateful to the Justice Committee and the Examiner of Statutory Rules for their scrutiny of the order. Article 2 extends the provisions allowing courts and statutory tribunals in Northern Ireland to receive evidence wholly or in part using audio or video conferencing systems, commonly referred to as "live links". Live links are primarily video systems that are utilised to facilitate the attendance of persons participating remotely in any court or tribunal hearing. The provisions are in addition to legislation that allows the use of a video link for a specific witness or defendant, with all other participants attending in the courtroom. The extension will allow us to maintain access until March 2026 to a digital tool that has proved to be an essential element of the toolkit for addressing the backlog of cases accrued during and since the pandemic. Members will recall, from the debates on similar motions for approval in 2024 and earlier this year, that we intend to put in place new primary legislation to provide a long-term legislative solution for live links in courts and tribunals. The Justice Bill, which, if enacted, will ultimately resolve the issue, was introduced last year and is at Committee Stage. Meanwhile, this further extension will allow us to maintain efficacy in the system. It will offer an avenue for wider access for participation in the courts where a judge is satisfied that that is in the interests of justice. I remain keen to have the Justice Bill in place as soon as reasonably practical, but it will be well into next year before that can happen, as the Bill's Committee Stage has been extended to March 2026. I am conscious of the concern expressed in past debates on similar motions about relying on emergency-related legislation and wish that there were a practical alternative to continuing to rely on the provisions as a temporary measure. However, there is justification for doing so, in that the legacy of the pandemic continues to have an impact on the justice system today.

Since the pandemic, Northern Ireland, like the other jurisdictions in the UK, has suffered a persistent backlog in the criminal courts. During the pandemic, more cases were received than disposed of in the criminal courts, which meant that the number of outstanding cases rose.

The Department's analysis of live case numbers at any stage, and of processing times for cases that were completed at courts in the years 2019-2020 to 2024-25, indicate that the pandemic not only had an impact at that time but continues to do so. For example, the total number of live Crown Court cases from the point at which a person is charged or informed rose from 940 on 1 March 2020 to a peak of 1,642 on 1 April 2022. That figure remained high on 1 April 2025, at 1,591 cases, up 69·3% from the figure in 1 March 2020. The number of adult Magistrates' Court cases from the point at which a person is charged also rose from 25,604 on 1 March 2020 to a peak of 30,555 on 1 April 2021. That figure remained high on 1 April 2025 at 29,854 cases, which is an increase of 16% from the figure in March 2020. There have been also been percentage increases for live cases in the Crown Court over the same period. The number of Crown Court cases, from the first court date after the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decision to prosecute in the Crown Court, rose from 898 in March 2020 to a peak of 1,612 on 1 April 2022. The level remained high, at 1,585, on 1 April 2025, which is a 76·5% increase on the 1 March 2020 figure. Within the adult Magistrates' Court, the number of cases from the first court date after the Public Prosecution Service decision to prosecute rose as a result of the pandemic, from 6,081 on 1 March 2020 to a peak of 10,545 on 1 April 2022. That number remained high, at 9,346 cases, on 1 April 2025, which is a 53·7% increase from the figure on 1 March 2020. The median number of days taken for a case to be completed in all courts from the date when an offence was reported to the date it was dealt with was 189 days in 2024-25, up 26·8% from 149 days in 2019-2020. That number reached a high of 226 days for cases that were dealt with in 2021-22. Similar impacts have been reported in England and Wales, as well as in Scotland. Although progress is being made, a substantial percentage of cases, adult and youth, have been with the Crown Court and Magistrates' Court for more than three years. While the pandemic is not the sole factor in the level of the backlogs, it is, nevertheless, a significant material factor. Other factors that play a role in the level of the backlogs include limited options for increasing case throughput by stakeholders, industrial action by other players in the criminal justice system and the extraordinary ongoing financial pressures that the Department faces. Maintaining access to live links has been identified as being an essential means of addressing the caseload backlog, particularly in the criminal courts, and it continues to be a useful tool in facilitating the efficient management of court time. The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service reports that the number of SightLink connections consistently averages approximately 23,000 per month. SightLink is to be replaced by the end of 2025 with a bespoke justice video platform based on Webex and provided by NICS IT Assist. While there is no guarantee, based on current disposal rates, an optimistic timescale for Crown Courts and Magistrates' Courts to recover would be mid to late 2026. There remains support by court users, particularly those who advocate for victims of crime, for that avenue of participation to be available, subject to judicial approval, to those who would prefer not to attend a court in person. The use of those provisions aligns with commitments that were made, or are reflected in, the Victim Charter. Therefore, whilst I hope that I never have to repeat that lengthy introduction, as I untangle and wrestle with the wording of the motion, I commend the approval of the order to the Assembly and look forward to being in a position, hopefully in the near future, where we no longer have to rely on that temporary measure.

1,104 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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