Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the decision to require the deletion of the Courtsdesk archive on the principle of open justice and transparency in the justice system.

There has been no deletion of the Courtsdesk “archive”. Under the terms of the agreement between HMCTS and Courtsdesk, Courtsdesk agreed that it would not hold any court data provided to it for more than 6 months. It acted outside the terms of that agreement. The nature of the “archive” it created does not relate to court records, as has been misreported. Courtsdesk has, essentially, created a historic database of court listing information. In any event, we are taking steps, in discussion with Courtsdesk, to resolve issues where possible whilst protect personal data. I met recently with the CEO of Courtsdesk.

Court records have always been, and will remain, available through formal request to the relevant court.