Transparency data

HM Courts and Tribunals Service Board meeting – 5 April 2023

Published 26 March 2024

Applies to England and Wales

1. Board members present

1.1 HMCTS

Name	Role
Victoria Cochrane	Interim Chair and Senior Independent Non-Executive Member
Lakh Jemmett	Non-Executive Member
Nicky Wilden	Non-Executive Member and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) Chair
Andrew Baigent	Chief Financial Officer
Paul Harris	Operations Director
Gemma Hewison	Strategy and Change Director
Annabel Burns	Judicial and Legal Services Policy Director MoJ representative
Lord Justice Andrew Edis	Senior Presiding Judge (SPJ)
Sir Keith Lindblom	Senior President of Tribunals (SPT)
District Judge Tim Jenkins	Judicial Board member

1.2 Presenters and additional attendees

Name	Role
Jan Gower	Non-Executive HMCTS Change Portfolio Board member/Critical Friend
Tracy Parker-Priest	Deputy Director and Service Owner – Tribunals
Jason Latham	Development Director
Donna Haynes	Implementation Director
Tim Stamp	Deputy Director, Strategic Finance & Planning
Clare Farren	Deputy Director, Judicial Private Offices
HMCTS Board Secretary
Head of Corporate Governance and Board Secretariat

1.3 Apologies

Name	Role
Nick Goodwin	HMCTS Chief Executive

2. Welcome and introductions

Attendees were welcomed to the meeting and the apologies were given.

3. Minutes and actions

The minutes from the meeting on 9 March 2023 were approved and updates on actions were noted.

4. Performance and finance updates

It was confirmed that the replanning of Reform programme had been widely communicated which was a major step forward. In addition, the dispute with the PCS union regarding the Common Platform had been resolved which would allow the final stages of the roll-out to be taken forward.

The Board noted the update in relation to prison capacity and there was a discussion relating to the recent HMCTS performance deep dive that had been undertaken by the MoJ Executive Committee (ExCo).

The Board was pleased to hear that the HMCTS Principals had agreed to the panel’s recommendation for the appointment of the new HMCTS Independent Chair.

Performance updates on the Crown Court, magistrates’ court, the Family and Civil jurisdictions and tribunals were presented.

An oral update on the emerging year-end financial position was provided.

5. Operational impacts of the illegal migration bill

There was a discussion of the scale of capacity increase required by the Illegal Migration Bill and the short and medium-term deliverability challenges.

6. Update on the public accounts committee and HMCTS reform programme

The Board reflected on the appearance of Nick, Gemma, Andrew and the Permanent Secretary at the Public Accounts Committee hearing on 30 March 2023 and an update on current position on the HMCTS Reform programme was provided.

7. Revised approach to reform implementation

Consideration was given to the revised approach. The Board welcomed the progress that had been made and was keen to be updated on this priority work going forward.

8. Deep Dive into Magistrates Unit Cost

The background and overview of the magistrates’ unit costs was presented, and the Board provided its feedback

9. 2023-24 HMCTS Allocations

The Board reviewed the developments that had taken place and provided its steers.

10. Reform Non-Monetary Benefits

The Board discussed the summary of the key non-monetary benefits of Reform. In addition, the Board considered case studies that highlighted emerging trends with ongoing work to track these trends and develop communication narratives.

11. AOB

An update on the transfer of judicial support functions from HMCTS to the Judicial Office was provided.