Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 27
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)
HMCTS told us it has identified lessons from the programme. For example, it identified the importance of understanding the impact of delivering large scale changes while also maintaining performance and having a whole programme level view of progress. The Ministry and HMCTS also identified that they needed to consider the bandwidth 51 C&AG’s Report, para 3.7 and Figure 11 52 Qq 95–97, 101 53 Qq 28, 32, 73 89–91, 100–101 54 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming courts and tribunals, Fifty-Sixth Report of Session 2017–19, 16 July 2018, para 3 55 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming rehabilitation: progress review, Ninety-Fourth Report of Session 2017–19, 24 April 2019, para 1 56 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming courts and tribunals, Fifty-Sixth Report of Session 2017–19, 16 July 2018, para 3 57 Q 24; Letter from Nick Goodwin, Chief Executive HM Courts and Tribunals to Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of Committee of Public Accounts, 17 March 2023 18 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme required from senior staff when delivering programmes of this complexity. They also acknowledged the overall need for building flexibility into the programme, especially in terms of sequencing of work, to enable them to make changes that are needed along the way.58 Finally, they recognised the importance of culture change HMCTS acknowledged that it was vital that it feeds lessons learned to date into both the remainder of the reforms and its wider programmes.59 58 Q 91 59 Qq 28, 32, 73 89–91, 100–101 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme 19
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.