Transparency data

Chair’s Summary – Strategic Engagement Group Meeting 2 June 2020

Published 2 July 2020

1. Introduction

A summary of the discussion of the Strategic Engagement Group (StratEG) meeting held on 2 June 2020.This meeting was held by Skype, rather than face-to-face due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Members of the Bar Council, Law Society and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) met with the HMCTS Strategic Engagement Team and Reform project teams for the latest 6-weekly update and discussion.

2. Court reform

Representatives(reps)received an update from each jurisdiction, which mainly focused on the impact of the pandemic on project delivery, as well as presentation from the Tribunals Reform, Estates and Overarching Recovery plan teams.

During the jurisdictional update the reps were told about the increased capacity of Cloud Video Platform (“CVP”)since the last meeting, meaning more hearings have been able to take place using this technology during the pandemic period, including around 3,000 remand hearings. Discussions around the wider rollout for CVP, for crime for example, were had and some tech issue concerns with microphones in Immigration Tribunals were raised by the reps.

Reps were told about the recent announcement of the contract award for the Scheduling and Listing tool and also about the current pausing of the Publication and Implementation project.

An update on Civil matters advised the reps about the move of Online Civil Money Claims work to bulk scanning within a CTSC in July and also the increase in the scope of the Judge Drawn Direction Orders pilot.

Crime teams are currently working on the wider CVP rollout processes, liaising with the Bar and Law Society on defence case progression for the Crime Service Model and Common Platform is working to identify the early adopter courts.

Tribunals had also been able to benefit from the increased technology in order to hold over 2,000 hearings a week in Social Security and Child Support (“SSCS”) settings. Although there have been no Immigration and Asylum Chamber (“IAC”) hearings, CVP is being tested to enable an extension in the near future.

In Family work, the digital divorce service which was working before the pandemic period has continued to work well and the Probate project closed on 4 May, moving to business as usual.

3. Presentations from reform projects

A presentation on Tribunals Reform was given to the reps, detailing the steps to identify areas where process development to enhance user needs was required. This work was undertaken including interviews with staff and stakeholders and the process maps developed from these will now be used to inform the next stage of the design process. No timeline has been set for this work as yet but the reps welcomed the update, recognising that these changes will impact the work of many legal professionals.

The Overarching Reform Recovery team informed the reps about the very early stages of recovery work currently being undertaken. The focus of this work will be to manage the demand and flow of cases and also look to maximise the capacity in order to deliver services through increased use of remote and, where possible, physical hearings. Concerns were raised by the reps about the use of Extended Operating Hours, but welcomed the early engagement on this topic, appreciating that all possible solutions will need to be considered and discussed. The briefing was followed by an update from the Additional Courts and Tribunals Capacity project which is looking at utilising our estate to safely increase the face-to-face hearings as well as considering other potential venues. The project welcomed legal professionals volunteering to assist the working group.

4. Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 14 July 2020 with presentations from Civil Reform (previously known as Online Civil Money Claims “OCMC”) and a verbal update from the Family Public Law and Adoption project.

Caroline Olaiya
Head of Strategic Stakeholder Relations
Chair of StratEG