Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 18
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)
We asked witnesses about concerns highlighted by the Law Society that the reforms provided access to process, rather than access to justice. HMCTS told us that it considered the user to be “the single most important judge of whether access to justice is delivered” – for example, victims of crime, people going through divorce, or children in a custody battle. It explained that the view of legal professionals was crucial in the same way as the view of the judiciary and HMCTS staff, as users of the system, but that ensuring people were satisfied with what it was delivering was the most important.34 It told us that it expected better access to justice to be reflected in staff satisfaction scores. For example, in its latest surveys HMCTS reported high satisfaction ratings for divorce (91%), probate (91%) and online civil money claims (95%) services.35 HMCTS told us that it planned 29 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming courts and tribunals, Fifty-Sixth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 976, 20 July 2018, para 4, 11, 13 ; Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming courts and tribunals: progress review, Second Report of Session 2019, HC 27, 5 November 2019, paras 2–3 30 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 31 CPR0003, Written evidence submitted by The Law Society, 30 March 2023, paras 5, 29–30, 37–52 32 Qq 93, 96, 98, 107; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.9–310 33 C&AG’s Report paras 14, 3.9–3.10 34 Qq 98–99 35 Qq 96–97; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.9–310 14 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme to publish more access to justice assessments in Autumn 2023 which would tell it more about people’s experience of using the new system, and it would respond to any feedback received.36 36 Q 93 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme 15 2 Costs and savings
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.