Ed Humpherson to Abbie Self: Review of the quality of criminal court statistics for England and Wales

Dear Abbie

We have now completed our review of the quality of the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) criminal court statistics for England and Wales. I am grateful for the positive contribution and engagement from your team in MoJ and your colleagues in HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) throughout the review.

We undertook our review because of concerns about inaccuracies in the Crown Court data. Having examined the statistics in depth, we are confident in the quality of the criminal court statistics and are satisfied that you have provided sufficient assurances to users about the quality of the Crown Court data. We judge that the statistics can retain their accredited official statistics status.

We commend MoJ and HMCTS on the collaborative approach to investigating and addressing the Crown Court data quality issues. There is now a better shared understanding of the data and case management systems and stronger working relationships between MoJ and HMCTS. It is also welcome that you have aligned the methodologies used to produce the official statistics and HMCTS’s management information, which has enhanced the coherence of Crown Court data.

We identified two recommendations that you should address to enhance the quality of the statistics. These are expanding and routinely reviewing the quality information published alongside the statistics; and adding caveats and explanations of uncertainty to the statistical bulletin. You have committed to implementing these in the June 2025 statistics release. We will continue to engage with you and your team as you make improvements.

I am copying this letter to Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary; Ross Gribbin, Director General for Policy, Analysis and Legal Group; Hugh Stickland, Chief Data Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser; and Damon Wingfield, Deputy Director for Courts and People Statistics and Analysis.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation

Review of the quality of criminal court statistics for England and Wales