Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for how long the Digital Markup system was in place for legal advisers and court associates in magistrates courts; what the cost was of implementing and running that system; and when the Common Platform system will be fully operational.

The Digital Mark Up (DMU) system was piloted from 2016, and national roll-out was completed by March 2018. The total cost incurred to the end of 2018/19 was £13.5m. In addition, there are on-going support costs which in 2018/19 were £600k.

We aim to have the common platform system fully operational during 2020/21 but, as with any program, timelines are continually reviewed.