HM Courts and Tribunals Service Board meeting – 7 November 2024
Published 20 January 2025
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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1. Attendees
1.1 Present
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Sir Richard Broadbent | Chairman |
| Nick Fishwick | Non-Executive Member (joined remotely) |
| Nicky Wilden | Non-Executive Member & Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Chair |
| Luisa Fulci | Non-Executive Member |
| Nick Goodwin | Chief Executive Officer (CEO) |
| Daniel Flury | Operations Director |
| Catherine Blair | Interim Chief Finance Officer |
| Annabel Burns | Strategy, Analysis & Planning Director |
| Jerome Glass | DG Policy – Courts and Access to Justice (MoJ) |
| Lord Justice Nicholas Green | Senior Presiding Judge (SPJ) |
| Sir Keith Lindblom | Senior President of Tribunals (SPT) |
| HHJ Alison Raeside | Judicial Board member |
1.2 Presenters
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Alison Wedge | Deputy Director, Head of Governance & Assurance |
| Tim Stamp | Deputy Director, Strategic Finance and Planning |
| Head of Financial Strategy |
1.3 Secretariat
| Role |
|---|
| Deputy Head of Board Secretariat |
| Interim Business Manager |
| Deputy Director Head of Judicial Private Offices |
1.4 Apologies
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Richard Price | DG Performance Strategy and Analysis (MoJ) |
2. Board minutes
The draft minutes from the meeting on 10 October were approved as drafted.
The Board was advised that Megan Lee Devlin, MoJ Director General for the Service Transformation Group, would be replacing Richard Price, who had changed role, as a regular attendee at Board meetings.
3. Property Board Update
The good progress made on capital works was highlighted.
Following a number of issues that had been encountered on capital projects, a project had been set up to conduct a series of deep dives to review governance and procurement. This had evolved into a cross-government project which HMCTS would lead on. The Board was advised of a separate ongoing review of internal investment governance.
4. Performance and finance updates
Following the identification of issues, a full Crown Court data set had been compiled. Quality assurance checks were underway and would be completed before publication of the data in December.
Work to assure the quality of data in other jurisdictions was taking place with magistrates’ data being the next area of focus, followed by Family.
The Board was advised that around 50% of staff would be impacted by the increase in the National Living Wage, either directly or indirectly.
A data cleanse in Family Public Law had reduced the recorded caseload. Reductions had been noted since the pandemic, however, there were still areas for improvement.
Following a discussion, it was suggested that a deep dive on Immigration & Asylum Chamber could be scheduled for a future meeting.
The Board were provided with a verbal update on the P6 financial performance at the last meeting and the paper provided illustrated that update. No material changes were expected before the P7 report was due to be finalised on 8 November
5. Analysis of Variations in Regional Performance
The principle factors that lead to variations in performance across different regions were highlighted and the Board noted the actions underway to make improvements across several areas.
6. Reform Programme Benefits Position
Following a discussion, the Board approved the presented Reform Benefit Position
7. Next Steps on Productivity
The Board noted that the content of the paper and agreed that it was important that the project set out with high ambitions as there were systemic issues to be addressed.
Improvements could result in reduced costs in all parts of the system, addressing system wide and not just court centric issues which would impact on the police, HM Prison and Probation Services and Legal Aid Agency.
8. Decommissioning Legacy & Risk Mitigation Programme – Application and Maintenance Support Services Contract – Full Business Case
The HMCTS Board approved the Application Services Contract (ASC) Full Business Case, endorsing the recommended bid for two ASCs and the plan to proceed to contract engrossment and contract signing when all business case governance was completed.
9. Initial view of the implications of the Spending Review – allocations process and the latest position on the Spending Review
The Board noted initial indications were that the Spending Review would result in the prioritisation decisions needing to be made by the department and the Lord Chancellor.
The first iteration of advice was expected from the Lord Chancellor in the coming weeks and plans were in place to consolidate the concordat process. It was expected that the concordat settlement decision could be reached in the new year, allowing time planning for the SR Phase 2.
10. Service Demand Forecast
The Board agreed the conclusions from the review of demand across the first 6 months of 2024-25 and the forward look to 2025-26 where provided.
11. Complaints Update
This Item was deferred to a future HMCTS Board meeting.