Strategic Public Engagement Group Meeting - September 2023
Published 1 November 2023
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1. Introductions and Welcomes
This is a summary of the discussions from the Strategic Public Engagement Group meeting held on 26 September 2023, held in-person at the Ministry of Justice, Petty France, London. It was co-chaired by The Hon. Mr. Justice Robin Knowles CBE and Miriam Davidson (Head of User Strategy, Inclusion and Engagement - HMCTS).
Senior leaders from advice sector organisations and networks met with HMCTS officials for the second time under the new engagement framework.
2. Modern Justice Pathways
The Head of the Ministry of Justice’s Modernisation & Digital Justice Team facilitated a discussion on user journey mapping across Civil, Family and Tribunals. An eco-system map which is at an early stage of development, was presented to members.
The discussion covered key areas of the design of the map. Members fed back the need to take into account third sector capacity constraints and for the map to reflect the need for issues to be resolved before they reached court.
The Modernisation & Digital Justice Team would update the group on future design developments and the Public Engagement team would consider the topic for future agenda items.
3. Remote Hearings - Neurodiversity
The Deputy Director of HMCTS Future Hearings Service gave an overview of the work being carried out to support neurodiverse individuals with remote hearings. The group were informed about the intentions of HMCTS to deliver all remote hearings via the Video Hearing Service (VHs) which is owned by HMCTS.
The group welcomed the focus on neurodiversity. The discussion covered support available and the importance of including those with lived experience into the design process, this could be through co-design sessions or attending neurodiversity forums to gain a better understanding of these users needs.
4. Digital Support
The HMCTS Digital Support Service Manager and a representative of We Are Digital (WAD) gave an update on the Digital Support Service. The discussion covered the development of support along the digital journey, the make-up of delivery partners and increasing referrals that were in place.
The key challenge for HMCTS is to get the most effective support in place to enable users to be supported across different digital stages of the journey. Members suggested that the triage process was a barrier to partners referring users to the service. Members also raised concerns about users need for legal advice and how signposting to legal information could users at the start of the digital support session. There was discussion about how to support community partners to recognise legal issues and to utilise specialist partners for specific user groups.
5. Next Meeting
The next meeting is planned for 6 February 2024.