Corporate report

Engaging with our external stakeholders: a progress update January 2020 (accessible version)

Published 24 September 2021

In November 2018 we published ‘Engaging with our external stakeholders: Our approach and plans’, and since then have made significant progress in delivering against the commitments within this strategy. A progress report of activity against these commitments is set out below.

1. Developing greater understanding of perceptions and needs

1.1 We said we would:

• undertake detailed research to further test stakeholder perceptions and understand how they want to communicate and engage with us
• publish a report that summarises the findings
• update/refresh communications and engagement plans based on what stakeholders tell us
• create benchmark data to help track the impact of stakeholder engagement

1.2 Since November 2018 we have:

• undertaken an independent audit into our communications and engagement, listening to the feedback of over 1,000 stakeholders
• published a report that summarises the findings
• put in place plans to track the impact of our stakeholder communications and engagement, measuring against this baseline, and refine our approach on an ongoing basis based on what people are telling us
• embedded social media listening tools to improve understanding of what stakeholders are saying about HMCTS and apply this insight to our communications and engagement strategy

2. Auditing, assessing and tracking our engagement activities

2.1 We said we would:

• undertake an independent assurance review of stakeholder engagement plans, to be completed in early 2019
• put better mechanisms in place to track and record our stakeholder engagement activities and capture more robust evidence of its impact

2.2 Since November 2018 we have:

• commissioned and completed an independent internal review of how effectively the Reform Programme engages with external stakeholders
• established a Task & Finish group to lead and provide a more holistic approach to how HMCTS approaches, engages and listens to those who provide knowledge and expertise into the programme

3. Increasing visibility of opportunities for our stakeholders to engage with us, as well as the visibility of engagement that has been undertaken and its impact

3.1 We said we would:

• continue to publicise opportunities for stakeholders to engage with us at a corporate level
• document how stakeholder engagement has been used to influence our decisions and share this back with participants in specific activities
• publish quarterly reports on levels of engagement, developed with the independent audit team

3.2 Since November 2018 we have:

• created bespoke GOV.UK pages so that people can access all event content, even if they did not attend. Speeches, slide decks, webinars, recordings and Q&A documents are all made public
• re-designed our GOV.UK homepage by jurisdiction to increase visibility and accessibility of the information that people need the most
• launched a corporate Facebook page to provide greater sight of - and the ability to interact with - some of the activity already happening on this channel
• built closer relationships with communications counterparts in both the legal profession and public user groups, attending seven of their existing forums to engage on Reform.
• hosted two communications forums to share information and identify opportunities to collaborate with these counterparts and provide them with a weekly summary of HMCTS content to cascade to their members

4. Extending the reach of our engagement to reach more people

4.1 We said we would:

• review our stakeholder map and consider if we should reach out to new groups, particularly when new services go live
• review our communication and engagement channels to ensure that they are accessible and appropriate for our stakeholders

4.2 Since November 2018 we have:

• held 28 public user engagement forums to take on board the views of those who use our services, covering 39 projects in key areas of interest, such as Single Justice Service, online civil money claims and assisted digital. A third national event helped give further visibility to a lot of this work
• hosted 14 strategic engagement groups to bring together legal professional representatives to provide the wider views of their members on aspects of the programme, featuring presentations from over 20 projects including Civil Money Claims Online, Video Hearings and Probate
• centralised our stakeholder engagement function, with a clear remit to create a programme-wide stakeholder map and central database of contacts to identify and track engagement and its impact
• co-hosted the international forum on online courts to exchange ideas, forge new partnerships and discuss the cutting edge of court reform with almost 200 academics, legal professionals and court reform experts. A series of follow up engagements have been held with key jurisdictions
• revamped our events schedule focusing on jurisdictional and thematic topics to increase accessibility and diversifying our audiences to reach over 1,300 people, including new groups such as parliamentarians
• piloted regional email bulletins in three regions – Wales, South and South West – to provide bespoke information and content relating to the work of courts and tribunals in the relevant areas

Whilst retaining the five commitments to stakeholder activity as a framework for the upcoming year, we have updated the planned activity that will underpin the delivery of each using feedback and insight gained from the JSC, PAC and independent stakeholder audit reports from 2019.

We will stay true to our overarching objectives of reaching more people, improving the quality of engagement, tracking what we do and sharing the outcomes and impact of our engagement more effectively.

5. Developing a greater understanding of perceptions and needs

5.1 In 2020 we will:

• continue to update/refresh communications and engagement plans and channels based on what stakeholders tell us
• use benchmark data from the 2019 stakeholder perception research to help track the impact of stakeholder engagement

6. Auditing, assessing and tracking our engagement

6.1 In 2020 we will:

• put better mechanisms in place to track and record our stakeholder engagement activities
• capture and document more robust evidence of how and where stakeholder engagement has been considered, used or impacted on change, and share this back to those who contributed to it

7. Improving consistency in the frequency and level of engagement we undertake

7.1 In 2020 we will:

• embed stakeholder engagement ‘checkpoints’ into our project planning and governance processes to ensure that each part of the programme is engaging with relevant stakeholders at the appropriate time and in the most effective way
• create and embed an aligned and more consistent level of reform information across all of our external channels
• regularly review and update our engagement toolkit to help our projects embed effective, consistent stakeholder engagement

8. Increasing visibility of opportunities for stakeholders to engage with us

8.1 In 2020 we will:

• continue to publicise opportunities for stakeholders to engage with us at a corporate level

9. Extending the reach of our engagement to more people

9.1 In 2020 we will:

• refresh our stakeholder map and reach out to new groups, particularly when new services go live
• review our communication and engagement channels to ensure that they are accessible and appropriate for our stakeholders

10. See also

HMCTS blog
HMCTS Reform Programme
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E-mail us at HMCTSCommunications@justice.gov.uk with suggestions, issues or questions, or requests to hear more about particular projects.