How can Shabana Mahmood clear the courts backlog without knowing the numbers?
The IndependentYou cannot solve a problem if you cannot measure it. “Without robust, rigorous and comprehensive data collection the government cannot hope to understand what is going on in our courts or be able to address the huge backlogs,” Mr Emmerson tells The Independent. The Independent reports that on arriving in office Shabana Mahmood, the new justice secretary, ordered a “complete audit” of the quarterly information that had been due to be published in June, before the election, and which was cancelled. Not only has Ms Mahmood inherited overflowing prisons and a criminal justice system at its lowest ebb in modern history, but her department does not even have the basic tools of information that it needs to start to repair this vital public service. Sir Michael Barber, the guru of delivery in the New Labour years, is making a welcome return to government to advise Sir Keir Starmer in No 10.
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