Influential committee of MPs warns of delays to court modernisation
Courts reforms are still falling behind the over-optimistic timetable set for them, the Public Accounts Committee has said.
MPs published their report on modernisation of courts and tribunals just before Parliament was dissolved for the general election.
It said HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) had failed to consider the impact of changes on vulnerable people and so risked undermining public confidence in the fairness of the justice system.
Recent moves to increase police numbers were likely to increase demands on the courts and “will only make the challenge even greater and place courts and the wider justice system under even more pressure”.
HMCTS had “again fallen behind on critical reforms” in its £1.2bn modernisation programme, which seeks to move some types of cases online and introduce virtual hearings, while closing some courts and centralising customer services.
The committee last looked at the programme in mid-2018 “and reported that we had little confidence that HMCTS could deliver its ambitious plans within its timetable”.
Despite an extended timetable for the work HMCTS “is still struggling to deliver all it promised”, the report said.
MPs said many concerns raised in their previous report had not been addressed and HMCTS had done too little to understand the impact on court and tribunal users before pressing ahead with reforms, “increasing the risk that justice outcomes might be affected, particularly with the court closure programme”.
There had been 127 courts closed since 2015, yet HMCTS had made no formal evaluation of the impact of this even though the closures had “made it more difficult for people to access justice”.
Committee chair Me Hillier said: “HMCTS’s ambitious modernisation programme continues to slip despite an extra year added to a much extended timetable while the revised schedule appears over-optimistic”
The MPs’ recommendations included that HMCTS should:
- set out the proposed alternative arrangements if plans cannot be achieved within current timeframes.
- demonstrate how evaluations will influence implementation of future services, including how reforms are affecting justice outcomes.
- say what it will do to make sure that the needs of vulnerable users are considered in future closure decisions.
- shift its engagement with key stakeholders “from broadcasting information to genuinely listening and responding to feedback”.
HMCTS chief executive Susan Acland-Hood said: “We recognise the need to redouble our efforts to listen to and engage with all those who work within the justice system. The committee acknowledges improvements in this area but rightly says there is more to do to win hearts and minds.
“By re-designing the justice system around those who use it we are making it more accessible to all. More than 250,000 members of the public have used our new online services since last year with over 80% satisfied.”
The service and Ministry of Justice would respond to the recommendations “in due course”.
Mark Smulian
