Transforming courts, prisons and probation: the criminal justice ICT market to 2016

Tuesday 19 February 2013, Amsterdam

There are three justice systems in the UK, one each for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Each performs the same tasks in largely the same way, but under different administrative structures. With respect to ICT, this produces different aims, priorities, procurement procedures and outcomes for each.

The dominant issue for all is financial. Budgets have been cut throughout criminal justice and more savings are being demanded, with a target of reducing total annual expenditure by £1.9bn from its current level of about £8.6bn. However, the demand on justice services is not abating. Court caseloads are high and expected to remain high, the prison population is close to maximum capacity and reoffending rates remain high. Therefore each nation is obliged to consider ICT’s potential in helping to do more with less, making society safer while reducing spend in the short- to medium-term.

Changes are taking place quickly in England and Wales, driven by the Transforming Justice programme, which is streamlining the justice agencies, rationalising the use of its estate, closing courts and exploring alternatives for opening up access to justice. This includes measures to implement lean management practices and a new business model to make courts and tribunals more efficient. Moreover, the MoJ is planning to reduce its workforce by 14,000-15,000 staff in the next four to five years.