Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total spending was on (a) academic research and (b) public consultations undertaken by his Department to inform the HMCTS reform programme in each financial year since 2011-12.

HMCTS and the Ministry of Justice have undertaken a number of formal written consultation exercises since the Reform Programme began in 2016. This included the Ministry of Justice consultation on the Reform Programme entitled Transforming our Justice System, which set out the Government’s broad approach to reform and sought views on three specific sets of proposals: the assisted digital strategy; automatic online conviction and statutory standard penalty; and tribunal panel composition.

HMCTS has spent the following amounts on academic research for evaluation of reform:

2016/17: £220,000 for research on the Citizen user Experience

2017/18: £50,000 for research on the Professional User Experience

2017/18: £40,000 for a survey of SSCS appellants digital capability

2018/19: £49,000 for LSE evaluation of video hearings in tax

2018/19: £47,976 for research on Flexible Operating Hours

HMCTS undertakes public consultation when reorganising estate or closing a tribunal building. This work is conducted by civil servants alongside other duties and it is not possible to capture an accurate assessment of the time and cost spent on this.