HM Courts and Tribunals Service Board meeting – 5 May 2022
Published 11 July 2022
Applies to England and Wales
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1. Board members present
1.1 HMCTS
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Tim Parker | Independent Chairman |
| Victoria Cochrane | Senior Independent Non-Executive Member |
| Lakh Jemmett | Non-Executive Member |
| Nicky Wilden | Non-Executive Member & Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Chair |
| Nick Goodwin | HMCTS Chief Executive |
| Andrew Baigent | Chief Financial Officer |
| Paul Harris | Operations Director |
| Gemma Hewison | Strategy and Change Director |
| Annabel Burns | Judicial & Legal Services Policy Director- MoJ representative |
| Lord Justice Charles Haddon-Cave 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 |
| Gemma Hewison | Strategy and Change Director |
| Rachel Hunt | Civil, Family & Tribunals Programme Director |
| Tracy Parker-Priest | Service Owner – Tribunals |
| Craig Robb | Governance & Assurance Deputy Director |
| Head of Strategy Unit | |
| Louise Alexander | HR Director |
| HR Head of Strategy | |
| HR Planning Lead | |
| Clare Farren | Deputy Director, Judicial Private Offices |
| HMCTS Board Secretary | |
| Head of Corporate Governance & Board Secretariat |
1.3 Apologies
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Gemma Hewison | Strategy and Change Director (joined for HMCTS Reform Programme Update, Special Tribunals Project & Common Platform Update items) |
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 7 April 2022 were approved and updates on actions were noted.
4. Performance and Finance updates
An update was provided on key successes across the organisation over the last month. This included:
- moving of all new court judgments and tribunal decisions onto The National Archives website
- publication of the HMCTS Vulnerability Action Plan and local criminal justice scorecards
The Board noted that COVID-19 issues and absences were continuing to reduce and becoming less of an issue.
There was a discussion in relation to the impact of the action by legal professionals in relation to publicly funded defence work, and the hard work that had been undertaken to closely monitor and manage the impact of the action was recognised.
The Board was provided with an update on the recovery position in the main jurisdictions.
There was a discussion around the main challenges for the year ahead which included:
- increasing disposal rates to pre-COVID levels in partnership with the service boards
- balancing the competing priorities of delivering reform, recovery and business as usual
The Board reviewed the end of year financial position, noting there had been a lot of work in the final month to spend capital maintenance funding at pace and to maximise operational expenditure.
5. HMCTS Reform Programme update
The Board considered the main achievements and challenges of the Reform Programme over the last month.
6. Special Tribunals Project
The Board noted the current position and, following a discussion, endorsed the proposed approach.
7. Update on Common Platform
The Board noted the update on current progress relating to the implementation of the Common Platform at Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and next steps.
8. HMCTS Corporate Business Plan 2021-22
The end of year position in relation to the 2021-22 Business Plan milestones were discussed.
The Board welcomed the delivery of the majority of important, often cross-cutting, milestones during 2021-22 and was very pleased that the organisation had performed well operationally, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.
9. Quarterly Review by the Principals
The Board provided its comments in relation to the draft material for the next Principals’ quarterly performance review meeting.
10. HMCTS People and Culture strategy 2021-23 – progress update
The Board considered and provided feedback on the HMCTS People and Culture Strategy and its strategic outcomes.
There was a discussion of the best way of measuring and improving individual performance.
11. HMCTS Board effectiveness evaluation 2021-22
The Board considered the findings of its annual effectiveness evaluation survey and agreed priority actions for continuous improvement for 2022-23.
12. Property Board activity update
An update was provided on Property Board activity as it had been around a year since it had become a formal sub-group of the HMCTS Board.