Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, has offered advice on installing IT systems in courts—currently a hot topic at the Ministry of Justice.
Speaking to the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Justice yesterday, Lord Neuberger said the Supreme Court’s IT system was now “very effective” but had suffered “teething problems”. Its initial IT system was “mediocre” as far as the judges were concerned and “worse than mediocre” for the court staff. Its current system was installed two years ago.
Lord Neuberger said “an off-the-shelf” system was best because bespoke systems were “expensive, time consuming and much more likely to fail”. Courts “should not balk at the idea of changing their procedures to enable maximum efficacy for new IT systems”, he said. However, careful attention should be paid to actual working practices when acquiring or designing IT systems. Finally, it was important to encourage everyone, including judges, to use the new IT.
The Ministry of Justice has promised an overhaul of IT in the courts by 2020 as part of its £375m court modernisation programme. Lord Justice Briggs, who is conducting a review of civil justice, has recommended setting up an online court for claims up to £25,000, which litigants could access without lawyers.
Sir Ernest Ryder also called for the “long overdue” improvement of IT facilities in tribunals last week, in his first annual report since taking over as Senior President of Tribunals.
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