Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 11
Sixty-First Report - Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme
Published 30 Jun 2023
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Court Reform Programme: progress review All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Problems have also been caused by court staff having had to use a version of common platform that was not sufficiently developed, which has affected justice outcomes and burdened courts. For example, between August 2021 and March 2022, HMCTS had to pause the rollout to address performance issues including system outages, which affected the live running and stability of the service. Users told the National Audit Office that issues with the system can lead to delayed court processes when it is slow or not responding.19 However, HMCTS told us that problems with the speed and stability of common platform existed in the early stages of the rollout and were no longer an issue of “primary concern”.20 14 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming Courts and Tribunals: progress review, Second Report of Session 2019, HC 27, 5 November 2019 15 HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the One Hundred and Twelfth to One Hundred and Nineteenth reports from Session 2017–19 and the First and Second reports from Session 2019, CP 201, January 2020 16 CPR0002, Written evidence submitted by The Bar Council, 30 March 2023, para1 17 CPR0002, Written evidence submitted by The Bar Council, 30 March 2023, paras 1, 3, 7, 13 18 Qq 74–79 19 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.9–2.10, 2.18, Figure 7, Figure 8 20 Q 28 12 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme
From: Public Accounts Committee, Sixty-First Report - Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme (HC 1002), 30 June 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 September 2023 (deadline 30 August 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the six conclusions, describing five as "Recommendation implemented" and one, on assessing the full cost of the programme, with a target implementation date of December 2023.
- On assurance of plans, the response says the programme is "conducting ongoing reviews of plans", overseen by programme boards and a portfolio board, with updated confidence assessments reported against each portfolio-level milestone.
- On access to justice, it commits to publishing four completed assessments in autumn 2023, with further publications "in 2024 and into 2025". Where impacts are identified, it will do further work and, "where appropriate", implement a service fix.
- On full costs, the government will respond within the six-month deadline, considering the proposed inclusions "where they are within the scope of the programme". It adds that in some cases it will be necessary to rely on estimates.
- On savings, it says delay will mean £50 million fewer recurring annual net savings by the end of 2025-26. The full £227 million is "still expected" a year later than originally expected, by the end of 2026-27.