Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
We have previously reported on HMCTS’s £1.2 billion programme to modernise courts, a very ambitious...
Conclusion
We have previously reported on HMCTS’s £1.2 billion programme to modernise courts, a very ambitious programme aiming to change how people access justice using more technology, closing courts and centralising customer service. We were concerned that HMCTS was at risk of falling behind schedule despite extending its timetable from four to six years, and that the pace of reform and pressure to make savings was limiting HMCTS’s ability to evaluate the impact on users and justice outcomes, particularly for vulnerable users.15 The Ministry and HMCTS told us that despite the pandemic, the programme is in its final stages and will not require a further extension to its timetable. They told us that some parts of the programme, including video hearings, were accelerated during the pandemic and that about 20,000 video hearings were now taking place each week. The Ministry and HMCTS told us they were confident that the parts of the programme that are behind schedule are within the contingencies they had planned for.16 They were also confident that, with regards to the reunification of probation services, that private sector suppliers will maintain their services until the handover in June 2021, but that they had contingency plans in place should a supplier fail before that time.17
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4.2 Managing the impact of COVID-19 required HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to adjust its approach to delivering the reform programme. Some services were ramped up more quickly, whilst other projects had to be delayed. In other areas, HMCTS’s COVID-19 pandemic response made it necessary to deliver entirely new initiatives at pace, most notably, building on the work done through Reform, the rapid roll-out of audio and video hearings across courts and tribunals, which has enabled essential hearings to continue during this period. However, the overall delivery window for reform will not change as a result of COVID- 19, and the programme is still due to be complete in December 2023. 4.3 In terms of the 2019 Digital Justice Report, HMCTS published its initial response in October 2020, welcoming and accepting all of the report’s recommendations and providing an update with specific commitments to action. 4.4 Since then, HMCTS has continued to develop its data strategy and is investing an extra £8 million, on top of existing budgets, to improve its data infrastructure and management information. The improvement of management information and reporting will help to enhance understanding of, and develop improvements to, frontline performance; and the development of a data platform will provide the infrastructure to better store and analyse data while enabling key data requirements to be more easily incorporated into digital systems. 4.5 In May 2021, the department published the framework for the evaluation of the reform programme. This framework sets out the scope and research plans for the evaluation of the HMCTS reform programme. 4.6 HMCTS intends to publish a further update on its work to progress the recom- mendations from the 2019 report in autumn 2021.