Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Deferred
Require Government to develop multi-year funded plan to improve quality of court estate.
Recommendation
The Government should develop and deliver a comprehensive plan to improve the quality of the court estate, which is funded on a multi-year basis. The plan should identify solutions for delivering essential maintenance without reducing physical capacity. It should also set out a long-term strategy for improving the court estate so that it provides a proper and acceptable environment for all its users. The Government has shown through the use of Nightingale Courts that temporary courtrooms can be made operational if required and, if necessary, this model should be used to enable permanent buildings to undergo essential work. (Paragraph 15) Digital Capacity
Government Response Summary
The government deflected the recommendation regarding a comprehensive plan for court estate quality, instead detailing funding commitments for data improvement (£3 million for next year, increasing for 2023–25) and HMCTS data infrastructure modernisation (£16 million investment from 2020/21-2022/23), including the £20 million BOLD Programme.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
Over the next year, £3 million has been allocated within MoJ to fund data improvement across the Department with increasing amounts for 2023–25. This programme will focus on transforming the management of our data, building our data capability and changing the way users engage with our information. These activities will drive up our data quality and make it easier to access, use and share data across the system. In line with its published data strategy, HMCTS has also been investing in its data function. This including a £1 million annual uplift to the running costs of the team and £16 million investment over the financial years 2020/21 to 2022/23. This investment funding is being used to modernise our data infrastructure and data processes, develop new measures and reporting using the new information from our Reformed systems, safely improve access to our data for use by internal and external analysts and improve our capability as an organisation to use data to improve performance. In addition, the MOJ and Home Office have together allocated £16 million over the 3 years of the SR for a CJS Data Improvement Programme to transform the way data is used and governed across the criminal justice system. CPS and the Attorney General’s Office will also be key partners. The programmes of data improvement in the MoJ and CJS aligns with the Better Outcomes through Linked Data Programme (BOLD) to maximise benefits around data sharing and linking. The Better Outcomes through Linked Data Programme (BOLD) - the MoJ are leading, in partnership with DHSC, DLUHC and Public Health Wales, on the BOLD Programme. BOLD is a 3-year £20 million Shared Outcomes Fund project that seeks to share and link up to 25 national and 3 local datasets across social policy departments in order to provide decision-makers with timely joined up evidence and insights in 4 areas (Victims of Crime; Reducing Reoffending; Substance Misuse; and Homelessness). Practical applications of this will include tracking education and employment outcomes for prison leavers, better understanding attrition between referral and take up of Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) and understanding what combinations of third sector support services best support victims to cope and recover. BOLD will also redesign the department’s model of sharing data so that future data sharing is timelier and more transparent. Enhancing Court Capacity—Judicial capacity and HMCTS staff capacity