Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
HMCTS’s reforms are wide-ranging and have the potential to impact access to justice for a range of users, including vulnerable people. In both 2018 and 2019, we raised concerns that HMCTS had not sufficiently demonstrated that it understood how reforms would impact access to the justice system or the people using it, and that it had not adequately considered how reforms already introduced, such as court closures, had impacted access to the justice system, particularly for vulnerable users. In our 2019 report we recommended 21 Qq 66–68 22 Qq 29 23 Qq 29, 65 24 Qq 27–29, 56–57, 65, 108; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.20–2.21 25 CPR0003 The Law Society submission, 30 March 2023, para 5 26 Qq 27, 63–65, 110 27 Qq 27, 32–34 28 Qq 63, 67–69, 108; C&AG’s Report, para 2.21 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme 13 that HMCTS should set out what it would do to make sure that the needs of vulnerable users are considered in future closure decisions and to put in place measures to compensate for any apparent access difficulties, such as providing taxi vouchers in advance.29 In its Treasury Minute response, HMCTS agreed to write to us in June 2020 with additional details on how the needs of vulnerable users were considered and what future measures would be put in place to ensure that HMCTS can identify the most appropriate measures to enable access to justice.30
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.