1. Introduction
A summary of the discussion of the Strategic Engagement Group (StratEG) meeting held on 3 August 2021. The meeting was held by video, rather than face to face due to the pandemic.
Members of the Bar Council, Law Society and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives met with the jurisdictional leads for HMCTS reform programme and the HMCTS corporate relations team for the latest 8-weekly update and discussion.
The chair opened the meeting and outlined the agenda.
2. Court reform
The group received an update from each jurisdiction including on the impact of the pandemic on project delivery. Presentations focused on the Video Hearings evaluation, MyHMCTS, HMCTS reform programme (the MoJ overarching evaluation) and the national rollout of the Family Public Law digital service (update on service mandation).
The reform plan update confirmed that the Common Platform had rolled out to 79 courts – 25 Crown Courts and 54 magistrates’ courts. This represents 35% of courts; 50% of courts are expected to be live on Common Platform by the end of August 2021. The Single Justice Procedure service has rolled out to police forces in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The Online Civil Money Claim plan will be delivered by July 2022. The project will close, and processes pass to Digital and Technical Services (DTS) in autumn 2022. In the immigration and asylum jurisdiction, the Appellants in Person public beta transition and associated citizens work is set to complete in 2022. The Scheduling and Listing and Video Hearings national rollout commenced on 7 June.
In the future hearings jurisdiction, feedback from the Video Hearings pilot at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre is informing improvements to the service, through observations of hearings and one-to-one interviews with judges, legal professionals and HMCTS staff. The Video Hearings service evaluation findings is expected to be published following an external peer review process, likely to be in 2022. Pilot site at Oxford County Court and early adopters at Barnsley County Court, Havant Justice Centre and the Employment Tribunal Virtual Region continue to use ListAssist for scheduling sessions and listing cases. The project is preparing for civil and family phase 1 rollout, with deployment scheduled to start in the autumn.
In the crime jurisdiction, Common Platform national rollout continues to schedule with 22 more courts (6 Crown Courts and 16 magistrates’ courts) across 4 regions going live in July. This included London and the South East on 6 July, the North West on 14 July and the North East on 15 July and 20 July. This means that Common Platform is now live in 101 courts (32 Crown Courts and 69 magistrates’ courts) as of 27 August which equates to 44% of the total number of courts. We’ve paused our rollout plan in August to accommodate summer leave before recommencing in September. Both sites trialing the Single Justice System Proof of Concept (POC) continue at Lavender Hill and Leamington Spa.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (PCSC Bill) includes provisions of the use of live video and audio links (“live links”) in criminal proceedings, the functions of Prisoner Escort and Custody Service (PECS) Officers in support for Video Remand Hearings (VRH) and enabling British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters to assist deaf jurors in the jury deliberation room. The Bill is undergoing parliamentary scrutiny before it gains Royal Assent, anticipated to be January 2022.
The civil update advised the meeting that the rollout of the Online Civil Money Claim service for legal representatives was planned for January 2022. The project is seeking to engage with legal professional volunteers during September to December 2021 to inform this release.
The Damages Claims pilot with eight claims firms continues. All claim firms are being encouraged to use the service. The project is seeking to engage with legal professional volunteers to inform this release.
In the family jurisdiction the Divorce Project completed delivery of all minimum viable product features at the end of April and is now assisting DTS with the early life support phase of project handover. All designated family courts are using the digital service, and more than half of eligible local authorities have been onboarded. The plan is to increase digital uptake ahead of mandation. Ten potential courts have been identified to mandate the service. Mandation is proposed in three stages: cohort 1 by the end of July 2021, comprising of 3 designated family judge (DFJ) areas; cohort 2 for September 2021, comprising of approximately 7 DFJ areas; and cohort 3 from October to December 2021.
The tribunals jurisdiction advised that in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) Pay by Account was successfully released in mid-July. The project is working to encourage firms to sign up for an account and targeting those that already have one but haven’t paid by that method. The Appellant in Person service will be released on 5th August and over the coming months will be enhanced with features such as notice of change. In mid-November the team will turn its attention to immigration bail applications, which will be digitised.
3. Presentation on Video Hearings evaluation update
HMCTS Customer Directorate provided background to the evaluation and explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had increased the use of remote hearings across the justice system. Initial evaluation was in two stages: an agile implementation review to develop and improve key audio-video processes (March to August 2020), and an evaluation of the revised audio-video processes of hearings held from July 2020. The methodology of the evaluation included user surveys and qualitative interviews with legal professionals, judges, court staff and the public. The evaluation report is due to be published in late 2021.
4. MyHMCTS update
MyHMCTS provides access to civil, family and tribunal services for professional users. Probate, divorce, financial remedy, immigration and asylum chamber and family public law are now live on MyHMCTS, as well as civil damages in a pilot phase for a limited number of organisations. Multi-factor authentication was introduced for users of all services at the end of 2020. Statistics on the rollout indicate that 6,630 solicitor organisations have registered on MyHMCTS, with 26,066 users activated. This equates to 17% of practising solicitors and 66% of registered solicitor organisations in England and Wales. The take up is expected to grow with new services onboarded on MyHMCTS.
5. HMCTS reform programme and the MoJ overarching evaluation
MoJ is conducting an evaluation of the HMCTS reform programme to identify whether it has met its aims and ensure that the effects of reform can be identified and assessed. The interim report is due to be published in late 2022. The final report will be published when the evaluation ends after the conclusion of the reform programme, and unlikely to be published before 2024 to 2025.
HMCTS reform is a large and complex programme, made up of over 50 separate projects. To manage the complexity of the reform programme, and consider its impact, the evaluation is taking a theory-driven approach and will consider outcomes and impact. The evaluation had identified 35 distinct causal pathways and mechanisms of change which will be explored through the research and addressed. The presentation covered the impacts of the pandemic on the evaluation, both operational and analytical.
6. Family Public Law digital service update
The presentation on the Family Public Law digital service reported that the first cohort of 3 sites (in Coventry, Worcester and Swansea courts and local authorities) was complete. The second cohort of 7 sites is in progress for mandation from July to 20 September. The final cohort of 12 sites is planned from October to December 2021. Project closure is planned for September 2021 for tech and January 2022 for mandation activity. A programme board will be scheduled in January for a decision on the full closure of the FPL project once all sites have been mandated.
7. HMCTS court safety webinar 27 July 2021 – government’s roadmap to recovery, milestone 4
The chair thanked the legal professional groups and their respective senior professional executives for participating in the update on HMCTS approach to the government’s milestone 4 on lifting restrictions and panel discussions 27 July.
The chair added that the video from the session had been published on GOV.UK.
8. Next Meeting
The next Strategic Engagement Group meeting is scheduled for 28 September 2021 with project updates due from the Family Public Law project team on Digital Service update on national rollout and mandation. Other presentations are pending confirmation.
The group agreed to hold the next meeting virtually by video on MS Teams; the position will be reviewed at each meeting.
Caroline Olaiya
Head of Corporate Relations, HMCTS
Chair of Strategic Engagement Group
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