Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Require Ministry of Justice to ring-fence funding for data improvement and publish timetable.
Recommendation
The Ministry of Justice must ensure that it ring-fences funding from Spending Review 2021 to expedite work to deliver on its commitments to improve data, as Court Capacity 43 well as allocating funding for this work as part of Spending Review 2022. In so doing, the MoJ should publish a detailed timetable for implementation to ensure it is accountable for progress. (Paragraph 24) Judicial capacity and HMCTS staff capacity
Government response summary AI-generated
The government committed an extra £477 million to the Criminal Justice System to reduce the Crown Court backlog to 53,000 cases by March 2025, and continues to work on the CJS Delivery Data Dashboard to improve transparency and timeliness across the system.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
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
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