Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Deferred
HMCTS fails to recognise importance of court estate condition and lacks transparency on maintenance backlog funding.
Conclusion
We are concerned by HMCTS’ failure to recognise the importance of the condition of the physical estate for both the functioning of courts and the public’s perception of civil justice. We have both seen and heard of unacceptable examples of poorly maintained court buildings, its impact on staff morale, and the ability to deliver swift access to justice. We are concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding capital funding announcements in tackling the £1.3 billion court maintenance backlog and how successful its Estate Strategy will be in handling the scale of the backlog. (Conclusion, Paragraph 100)
Government Response Summary
The government explained the document upload limits for new digital systems and committed to reviewing the current lower limit for email submissions, but did not address the concerns about the condition of the physical court estate, maintenance backlog, or funding transparency.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The new digital systems, developed by HMCTS, are already of sufficient size to cater for most documents that need to be uploaded during proceedings. Limits are currently 1GB for documents and 500MB for multimedia. These are in place to protect systems from malicious attack. A 1GB limit allows for a standard text document of around 26,000 pages, and around 7,000 pages if images are included. These standards will be the baseline for future digital development. A review will be completed on the current limit relating to email submissions which is set at a lower level, and we recognise is particularly restrictive for users. Other opportunities for reform