Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 27
59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025
Published 7 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We asked MoJ whether the public could have confidence that data stored across MoJ’s systems is safe, following the attack. MoJ stated that it has comprehensively reviewed all of its systems to understand where vulnerabilities lie. It stated that its review had given it a better understanding of where the risks in its systems are and explained that a transformation programme is now in place to update systems and make them less vulnerable. It acknowledged, however, that there are huge costs associated with improving systems and that addressing the risks identified will be dependent on its decisions on how to allocate its Spending Review settlement across the business. It gave the same response, when we asked whether it planned to accelerate the transformation programme in light of the attack on LAA’s systems.52 50 Q 71 51 Qq 77, 88 52 Qq 81-86, 89 16
From: Public Accounts Committee, 59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 (HC 1240), 7 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 April 2026 (deadline 7 March 2026).
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 recommendations in the response, reporting some as implemented and giving target dates for others.
- On Dartmoor, HMPPS has reviewed its handling of the lease negotiations and identified areas of learning. MoJ and HMPPS will write to the Committee "once the proposed approach to remediating Dartmoor has been decided", with a target date of June 2026.
- On access to legal aid for the digitally excluded, an Ipsos civil demand feasibility study will report by the end of March 2026. The department will report back to the Committee on progress in October 2026.
- On market sustainability, the department will "explore options to routinely monitor the profitability of legal aid firms" and update the Committee in October 2026. Any future policy decisions will be "in the context of the department's spending review settlement".
- On the cyberattack, MoJ and LAA say lessons have already been shared across government. MoJ states that it "has allocated funding to the transformation of LAA systems over the 2026-2029 period".