HM Courts and Tribunals Service Board meeting – 3 and 4 October 2023
Published 25 October 2024
Applies to England and Wales
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1. Attendees
1.1 Present
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Sir Richard Broadbent | Chair |
| Victoria Cochrane | Senior Independent Non-Executive |
| Nicky Wilden | Non-Executive Member |
| Lakh Jemmett | Non-Executive Member |
| Nick Goodwin | Chief Executive Officer |
| Paul Harris | Deputy Chief Executive & Operations Director |
| Andrew Baigent | Chief Financial Officer (CFO) |
| Louise Alexander | HR Director |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Richard Price | Director General, Performance Strategy and Analysis |
| Jerome Glass | Director General, Policy – Courts and Access to Justice |
1.3 Secretariat
| Role |
|---|
| Board Secretary |
| Head of Corporate Governance and Board Secretariat |
| Head of Operational Judicial Private Offices |
1.4 Apologies
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Annabel Burns | Judicial and Legal Services Policy Director, MoJ |
2. Board Strategy Day
The Board undertook strategic discussions and provided steers in respect of areas covering context and scenarios, strategic opportunities and performance.
3. Board Minutes
The minutes from the meeting on 8 September 2023 were approved and updates on actions were noted.
4. Reform plan update
The Board provided its feedback on the proposals and gave its, in principle, endorsement.
It was suggested more detailed information could be presented to a future Board meeting.
5. Performance and Finance Updates
The impact of prison capacity challenges on courts, ongoing mitigations and potential next steps were discussed.
The Board was informed that industrial action by PCS trade union members employed by OCS as court security staff had resulted in 30 courts being temporarily closed. There had been no additional security incidents as a result of contingency plans being implemented.
The Board discussed sitting days, receipts and outstanding caseloads in a number of jurisdictions including the Crown Court, Civil, Family and tribunals.
The financial position was stable, though there was a continued focus on mitigation where expenditure was above originally assumed levels.