Transparency data

Chair’s summary – Strategic Engagement Group Meeting 10 March 2020

Published 1 May 2020

1. Introduction

A summary of the discussion at the Strategic Engagement Group (StratEG) meeting held on 10 March 2020, kindly hosted by the Bar Council at their offices in Holborn. It provides an overview of the presentations and highlights key discussions at the meeting.

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

2. Court reform

The representatives (“Reps”) from the legal professional bodies received an update from each jurisdiction, as well as an in-depth presentation from projects. The projects are either selected on request from the forum’s membership or when projects have timely updates for the group. At this meeting we had presentations on:

• Divorce –transition to fully digital
• Common Platform rollout
• Courts and Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC) Loughborough opening

The group was updated that 9 Designated Family Judge (“DFJ”) areas were now offering a fully digital divorce service, with the hope that the remaining 35 areas will be doing the same by the end of June 2020. The project teams are currently working with Local Authorities and communities to work up a plan to get this in place. The group were also told that although Regional Divorce Centres had reduced from 11 to 4, Bury St Edmunds will remain to deal with any legacy work or work which does not have a digital journey. The team was thanked by the Reps for a very detailed and clear update.

For Common Platform the group was informed that the early adopter sites identified in London, Croydon, Derby, Staines and Guildford had a readiness date of 24 April 2020. These sites will cover the South West, North West and North-East regions before a later national roll-out. The project team is developing onboarding guidance for defence professionals by working with the Crown Prosecution Service and Legal Aid Agency before presenting the guidance to the Digital Practitioners Working Group. A webinar has been scheduled for 22 April 2020 at 1pm for those who may find this helpful. The Bar Council told the project that considering a method for inclusion of unused materials page count would be helpful for claiming of fees although as this may sit with Digital Case System (“DCS”)this may not be something the project will be working on. The project also asked for best ways to engage with legal professionals and various contacts were suggested to be used for this, which the project was grateful for.

Loughborough CTSC went live the first week of March 2020, with the first floor of the building being available for use. The group were told that Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) services would move to Loughborough CTSC and Crime would move to Birmingham CTSC and were working to a readiness date of 20 April 2020. It was also confirmed to the group that the Authorised Officer roles would be staying in the courts and tribunals hearing centres, not moving to CTSCs.

3. Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The current situation with coronavirus was mentioned by the group. Reps are encouraged to share the following links from HMCTS which will assist during this time. These are:

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) courts and tribunals planning and preparation
• HMCTS telepehone and video hearings during coronavirus outbreak

4. Next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled in April 2020 with a presentation due from the Human Voice of Justice and Estates teams.

Caroline Olaiya
Head of Strategic Stakeholder Relations
Chair of StratEG