Research and analysis

HMCTS Digital Services Evaluation: fair processing notice

Published 16 December 2022

Applies to England and Wales

1. About this study

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are currently carrying out a study of the use of recently reformed courts and tribunals services. The study will help us to understand and evaluate how these services are being used and to make recommendations for improvements in the longer term.

We will use the data collected through this study to improve our services by:

• Understanding if the new services change the ease with which people can access them
• Understand if the new services improve the speed and accuracy of processing cases
• Understand if the new services change the perceptions of the justice system.

2. What data we collect from you

The study will include court and tribunal user surveys, qualitative interviews with user groups and analysis of management data which is collected from the courts and tribunals. The public user survey, legal representatives survey, HMCTS staff survey and qualitative interviews with public users, the judiciary, legal representatives and support organisations will be conducted by an external research organisation (IFF Research Ltd.). We will use data from existing management information records to contact potential participants and collect data on experiences of using the services. MoJ and HMCTS will process personal data supplied in this service in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We have a privacy policy explaining what you can expect from the HMCTS when we hold or request personal information (‘personal data’) about you; how you can get access to a copy of your personal data; and what you can do if you think we’ve done something wrong. The MOJ privacy policy can also be found on GOV.UK.

3. What we will do with your data

We have appointed an external research company to carry out parts of the evaluation. We will share contact details and case information with the research company and their sub-contractors to enable them to invite those using the court services to participate in the evaluation.

The external research company will anonymise answers to the data they collect by removing the name and other details that could identify participants from the data. This means that it will not be possible to tell who the information is from or about. The anonymised responses may later be used by HMCTS and/or other researchers for the purpose of further research.

Any personal information collected by the external research company will be stored separately and securely and will be deleted one year after the research project ends.

4. Third party data sharing

Third parties with whom the information will be shared are IFF Research Ltd. and their sub-contractors Central Mailing to undertake mailing services.

5. To find out more

Taking part in the research is voluntary. If you prefer not to take part, you don’t need to do anything. If you receive a telephone call from one of the interviewer team inviting you to take part over the phone, you are welcome to decline that request. If you fill in the survey but decide later that you do not want your answers to be used, please contact IFF Research and they will delete your response and not use it in the research.

IFF Research can be contacted on 020 7250 3035 or at HMCTSreforms@iffresearch.com.

For any specific queries about the study, you can email HMCTSReformevaluation@justice.gov.uk. Please include your reference number in any correspondence.