Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely and accurate access to magistrates court listings and registers for the public and media following the deletion of the Courtsdesk archive.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The starting point is there has been no deletion of the Courtsdesk “archive”.
Magistrates’ court listing and registers data continues to be available online, by email, in courts, and over the phone.
Work is underway to improve the way in which Magistrates and Crown court lists are available. First, we have launched a market engagement exercise for new providers to reuse our data under a new licensing regime (which would be open to Courtsdesk to apply for); second, in the interim, we have contacted Courtsdesk, and I have met with its CEO, with a view to potentially reestablishing their service provided they can demonstrate they will comply with our data protection requirements; third, by the end of March we will be expanding the Court and Tribunal Hearings (CaTH) service, an online portal which allows journalists and the public to access and search court-related information. By the end of March, CaTH will include Magistrates’ and Crown Court lists alongside the Civil, Family and Tribunal hearing lists already published.
Court records have always been, and will remain, available through formal requests to the relevant court.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve co-ordination between court staff, prison staff and policing staff.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government recognises the importance of different Departments working collaboratively. The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice chairs the Criminal Justice Board to facilitate collaboration between all criminal justice system partners, including the police, HM Courts & Tribunals Service and HM Prison & Probation Service.
The Ministry of Justice also provides guidance to and opportunities for engagement between Local Criminal Justice Boards.
In tandem, the Government is considering the recommendations in Part II of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts relating to the co-ordination between CJS partners and will respond to them in the coming months.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his department has to address the potential misuse of legal proceedings for purposes associated with Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on Friday 13 February to Question 111038.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will set out the specific data protection concerns cited by HM Courts & Tribunals Service in its November 2025 cessation notice to Courtsdesk; and what assessment he has made of the reasons that data protection concerns could not be resolved without requiring deletion of the archive.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The concerns which led to the cessation of data sharing with Courtsdesk were based on the unauthorised sharing of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) data with another party outside of the terms of the arrangement. Courtsdesk agreed under the terms of its pilot arrangement with HMCTS not to provide data to another company without notification to or authorisation by HMCTS. It acted outside the terms of that agreement by sharing data with a third-party AI company. The data provided to the other party without authorisation included sensitive, personally identifiable information of individuals involved in criminal cases, such as their full name, address and date of birth.
HMCTS takes seriously its responsibility to handle data safely to protect those people whose data it holds, and this left termination of the arrangement as the most appropriate course of action.
There has been no deletion of the archive
The Ministry of Justice is doing three things: first, we have launched a market engagement exercise for new providers to reuse our data under a new licensing regime (which would be open to Courtsdesk to apply for); second, in the interim, we have contacted Courtsdesk, and I have recently met with its CEO, with a view to potentially reestablishing their service provided they can demonstrate they will comply with our data protection requirements; third, by the end of March we will be expanding the Court and Tribunal Hearings (CaTH) service, an online portal which allows journalists and the public to access and search court-related information. By the end of March, CaTH will include Magistrates’ and Crown Court lists alongside the Civil, Family and Tribunal hearing lists already published.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to publish how many times court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals have been provided to organisations and individuals, by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts broken down by day for every day of the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.
Standard lists produced by the Magistrates’ Courts do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals. Standard lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.
The management systems in Magistrates’ Courts do not collate the number of times courts lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are provided to organisations. This data is not held centrally.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Courts and Legal Services of 10 February 2026, Official Report, Column 707, for what reason the data protection breach was sufficient to terminate the contract but did not meet the threshold for an Information Commissioner referral.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is committed to protecting the personal and sensitive information entrusted to us. The agreement which Courtsdesk entered into with HMCTS specified that it would not pass data on to any party other than journalists without the permission of HMCTS. Courtsdesk acted outside the terms of that agreement by sharing data with a third party AI company. It did not seek HMCTS’ permission to use the data in that way. In those circumstances, it was entirely appropriate to suspend the arrangement between HMCTS and Courtsdesk.
Data protection officials considered that the circumstances did not meet the threshold required for referral to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Ministry of Justice is committed to open justice as well as the responsible use of data and protecting data privacy. Our approach in this matter vindicates those principles.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data protection safeguards are in place in relation to court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, being provided to individuals and organisations by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.
Standard Lists produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court and these lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.
Standard lists do contain Special Category Data as defined by Data Protection Act 2018. This information is intended to assist the accurate reporting of court proceedings and should be handled appropriately by legal professionals and members of the media.
HMCTS will immediately cease the sharing of this data, if there is concern about how it will be used. Such data is held subject to licencing and can only be shared in agreement with licencing agreements; abiding by those licencing agreements is part of data protection.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, to provide a list of organisations and individuals that are provided court lists containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals, by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, either centrally or via individual courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Home addresses and dates of birth of individuals are not included in Crown Court, County Court, Family Court, High Court, lists of hearings, nor in lists of hearings in the Tribunals.
Standard lists of hearings produced by the Magistrates Court do contain the home addresses and dates of birth of individuals due to appear in court. These lists are only available to approved accredited members of the media, criminal justice partners and other government departments with legitimate reasons for requiring such information.
The names of individuals and organisations provided with court lists, containing home addresses and dates of birth of individuals is not collated or stored centrally.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to maintain the CourtsDesk database of court records.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Courtsdesk does not have a database of, or access to, court records. Criminal court case records are held in a variety of places including at individual courts, at The National Archives and by the Ministry of Justice. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are deleting any court records. They have always been, and will remain, available through formal requests to the relevant court.
Courtsdesk has developed a historic database using courts listing data. There has been no deletion on this database.
The Ministry of Justice is doing three things: first, we have launched a market engagement exercise for new providers to reuse our data under a new licensing regime (which would be open to Courtsdesk to apply for); second, in the interim, we have contacted Courtsdesk, and I have met with its CEO, with a view to potentially reestablishing their service provided they can demonstrate they will comply with our data protection requirements; third, by the end of March we will be expanding the Court and Tribunal Hearings (CaTH) service, an online portal which allows journalists and the public to access and search court-related information. By the end of March, CaTH will include Magistrates’ and Crown Court lists alongside the Civil, Family and Tribunal hearing lists already published.
Court records have always been, and will remain, available through formal request to the relevant court.