News

Courts service gets information-exchange network

Kable

Published: 23 Jul 2009 17:07 BST

HM Courts Service has almost completed its work on a secure information network for its agencies.

According to HM Court Service's annual report for 2008-09, the Criminal Justice System's Exchange Links deployment programme had been completed in all but three areas — Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester and West Midlands — by the end of March.

An HMCS spokesperson said the work in Gloucestershire and the West Midlands has now been completed. "HMCS is working with Greater Manchester police on implementation of the programme in the Greater Manchester criminal justice area," she said.

The programme enables the automatic transfer of information between agencies. HMCS is using the links to automatically advise the police of results from magistrates' courts hearings and acknowledge fixed-penalty notices, while police are using them to provide the notices and supply case information.

According to the report: "There is still more to do and we continue to work closely with the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and other government departments to ensure the delivery of cross-criminal justice IT and related business change."

Other work that has been completed in the past year includes the Libra case management information system for magistrates' courts — which now has 12,000 users from within the service and 4,500 from third parties — and the provision of direct internet and intranet access for all civil courts and probate registries.

HMCS has also implemented an information assurance programme, which has involved online training for staff through the Justice Academy website. It plans to repeat this each year.

Other plans include upgrades for its legacy CaseMan and FamilyMan applications, as well as a platform to support strategic operational concepts.