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Chair’s Summary – Strategic Engagement Group Meeting 8 June 2021

Published 24 June 2021

1. Introduction

A summary of the discussion of the Strategic Engagement Group (StratEG) meeting held on 8 June 2021. This 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’ Court 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 and presentations on the Publications & Information project, Scheduling & Listing project, Video Hearings service, Development of service for Legally Represented Parties in Online Civil Money Claims jurisdiction and on national roll out of the Family Public Law Digital Service.

The reform plan update confirmed that the Common Platform Early Adopter phase had completed in May and national roll out was progressing well. The Divorce project is complete and handed over to Digital & Technology Service to implement the procedures into business as usual. Scheduling and Listing early adopter sites have moved into national roll out. All projects are proceedings well, any rescheduling of plans have been approved by Portfolio Board and are within costs.

In the crime jurisdiction, Common Platform went live in Teesside on 8 June. Hampshire Police are set to go live with Common Platform at the end of June 2021. The project team is supporting staff and courts that have gone live: HMCTS Common Platform: participating criminal courts.

The civil jurisdiction advised that in the Online Civil Money Claims service, Judge Draws Directions Orders had been rolled out to North-east region in June. The opt-in mediation service has been extended to all Online Civil Money cases.

The Damages Claims pilot went live in May and will allow legal firms to submit damage claims online and defendants to submit defence details online. The service is being piloted with 8 courts and 9 legal firms to the end of August before being opened to all firms. The service is expanding to accept multi party cases.

The update from family jurisdiction confirmed the closure of the Divorce project. Further work is however continuing on the ‘no fault divorce’ service.

The update from tribunals jurisdiction advised that there has been a positive uptake in digital applications in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) service with overall digital take up at 71%. Reasonable Adjustment functionality in SSCS can provide different print formats such as letters in large fonts. User feedback shows 89% of SSCS service users have rated the service as ‘extremely good’ or ‘good’.

In the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) service, the digital uptake of eligible appeals made by legal representatives that can be submitted digitally is at 100%. The HMCTS Customer Directorate Research Team evaluation report of IAC service is due to report in Autumn.

The update from the Future Hearings jurisdiction was provided by the Publications & Information, Scheduling & Listing and Video Hearings presentations at the meeting.

3. Presentation on Publication and Information project

The Publications & Information project re-started in May; it was paused in April 2020 due to the pandemic. The project aim is to publish and display court and tribunal information. The project team is currently planning engagement activities with stakeholders to identify necessary feature requirements with an initial focus on the crime jurisdiction. A focus group is being arranged for legal professionals to understand user requirements and inform the design and research plan.

4. Scheduling and listing

The Scheduling and Listing pilot, using ListAssist, has been running at Oxford County Court since January. It expanded in March to Havant Property Tribunal and in May at Barnsley County Court. Feedback from judges will inform any changes that may be required before this is in the diary for County Courts. ListAssist is used in a standalone way, with structured data in the background, such as availability of courtrooms for capacity. The pilots are coming to an end with plans to integrate ListAssist in the civil jurisdiction.

5. Video hearings

The Video Hearings pilot started in the civil and family jurisdictions a few weeks ago. The project illustrated to the group the plan and progress in extending the pilot across jurisdictions. It has designed and developed features to replicate courtroom and experiences for judges and users. A video of the service is on YouTube. Several features and enhancements, including screen sharing and the booking process, have been developed and deployed into the service since the end of May 2021.

6. Development of service for Legally Represented Parties in Online Civil Money Claims

The project provided a presentation on the proposed process for legally represented parties to make claims using the online Civil Money Claims service. The project will seek feedback when the service is in place.

7. Rollout of Family Public Law Digital Service

The project provided a presentation on the rollout of the Family Public Law Digital Service. The rollout had been delayed due to the pandemic. Rollout is complete to all 44 Designated Family Judge courts but further work is required for the remaining 89 Local Authorities to sign up to the service. The project is continuing to improve and enhance the service based on user feedback and subject to approval will deliver service mandation in July. The transition to ‘business as usual’ will commence in July with the project supporting local staff, judges and users of the service through the process. The project is set to close in September 2021.

8. HMCTS launches 2021 communications and engagement survey

HMCTS is gathering feedback about how it communicates and engages with professionals who work in courts and tribunals. We are asking professional court and tribunal users (such as legal professionals, the advice sector, contractors and the police) to complete a short survey about how we communicate and engage with them about the work of our organisation, including about reform, recovery and day-to-day operations.

From our use of social media and GOV.UK to blogs and e-bulletins, working groups, forums and webinars, we use lots of different ways to communicate with people who work in our courts and tribunals. The survey is open for a month from 22nd June. Feedback will help us to improve what we do. All responses will be treated anonymously and in the strictest confidence.

9. Next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 3 August 2021 with project updates due from the User Experience and Insight Team on Video Hearings Evaluation, and from the Common Capability Team on MyHMCTS update.

The group agreed to hold the next meeting virtually by video on Microsoft Teams; the position will be reviewed at each meeting.

Caroline Olaiya
Head of Corporate Relations, HMCTS
Chair of Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Group