Criminal Court Improvement Group (CCIG)
Overview
The Criminal Courts Improvement Group, led by the Senior Presiding Judge, aims to support collaborative operational improvement across the criminal justice system, in respect of the courts.
Established in September 2021, aim of this group is to improve the performance of the criminal courts in England and Wales. Originally the Crown Court Improvement Group, it was set up by the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, to support the recovery of the courts following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Criminal Courts Improvement Group (CCIG) has since developed into a standing forum through which criminal justice partners work together to promote more effective ways of working and to address the wider challenges facing the system.
Membership
Each partner and agency in the criminal justice system plays an important, but separate, role in the administration of justice and in the maintenance of the rule of law. The group enables collaboration while respecting their individual roles.
Representatives from across the whole criminal justice system sit on the Criminal Courts Improvement Group (CCIG), including:
- Senior Presiding Judge (Chair)
- Deputy Senior Presiding Judge
- Chief Magistrate
- National Leadership Magistrate
- Judicial representatives of the criminal courts as nominated by the Senior Presiding Judge
- Assistant Commissioner of the Met Police
- National Police Chief’s Council
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
- Chair of the Bar Council
- Chair of the Criminal Bar Association
- President of the Law Society
- Legal Aid Agency
- HM Courts and Tribunals Service
- Serious Fraud Office
- Attorney General’s Office
- Ministry of Justice
- Home Office
Data analysts also sit on the group, considering ways of measuring the effectiveness of the group’s work.
Remit
The CCIG operates five dedicated working groups:
- Remote participation
- Listings
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Pre-sentence reports
- Better case management
The detail of each is below.
Remote participation
Judicial Chair: Lady Justice Yip
Established to consider the use of remote participation in the criminal courts, taking account of the requirements of access to justice and the interests of justice. The group provides a forum to identify and assess the current and potential future benefits of remote participation and to review the availability of technology and other resources needed to support it.
Listings
Judicial Chair: Lord Justice Edis
Created to examine the procedures by which cases are listed in the Crown Court and magistrates’ court and to make recommendations to increase efficiency. The aim is to ensure optimal use of capacity in the courts system. This will assist in addressing backlogs and in prioritising of the most complex and sensitive cases.
AI
Judicial Chair: Mr Justice Johnson
Provides a forum for criminal justice agencies to identify and share information on the current and planned use of AI within the criminal courts, and to consider how AI is being developed and deployed across the system. Its purpose is to ensure that AI adoption supports efficiency, improves working practices, and enhances fairness across the system, while maintaining strong human oversight and the highest ethical standards
Pre-sentence reports
Judicial Chair: HHJ Menary KC
Established to identify and address practical barriers that affect the timeliness, quality and usefulness of pre-sentence reports in both the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court.
Better case management
Judicial Chair: Mrs Justice Cutts
Established to build on existing work in the area of better case management, and in light of the publication of Part 2 of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts (led by Sir Brian Leveson), recommending efficiency changes in the criminal justice system.
Structure and governance
The CCIG reports directly to the Lady Chief Justice.
As well as the working groups listed above, the group also comprises two standing bodies, an Executive Board and a Plenary Group. An Executive Board has been established to oversee the work of the CCIG. The Board is chaired by the Senior Presiding Judge, or Deputy Senior Presiding Judge, and each criminal justice agency that is a member of the CCIG is represented by someone of sufficient seniority, usually at Director level, to agree actions on behalf of their agency. It is the senior decision-making forum for the CCIG, delivering operational improvements to the criminal courts through an ethos of collaboration and candour. The Board sets the strategic scope of work and establishes priorities for the CCIG, giving priority to projects that are achievable with defined success measures and completion dates. Any agency may submit proposals to the Board, via the Senior Presiding Judge’s office, for consideration.
Each working group will be required to regularly report to the Board on progress of their respective projects. They may also escalate any risks or issues that cannot be managed by the working group and need more senior intervention.
A Plenary Group will meet regularly. The Group will provide a forum for agencies to discuss issues of common interest, receive reports from individual agencies or working groups, and hear presentations from external speakers on topics of concern. There is no formal limit to the number of individuals who may attend a plenary group session. It is intended to act as a vehicle in which information and ideas may be exchanged and disseminated across the criminal justice system. For example, in February 2025, Sir Brian Leveson attended a meeting of the Plenary Group to provide an update on the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.
In February 2026, the group’s first conference took place at the Guildhall in London, bringing together more than a hundred professionals from across the criminal justice system. Read more in the news piece, including the speech given by the Lady Chief Justice.