NAP 5 – Open Justice – Wk 2 – Read out
As part of the co-creation process of the UK’s fifth National Action Plan for Open Government (NAP5), thematic areas agreed to during the Multistakeholder Forum in March 2021 have been turned into biweekly Working Groups. These Working Groups bring together government policy leads and civil society, and are charged with developing commitments for inclusion in NAP5.
The second NAP5 Open Justice Working Group was held on May 25, 2021 at 14:00 BST, following the inaugural meeting on May 10. The meeting was co-chaired by civil society and government.
Topics and themes discussed as part of the session included:
Collaboration:
● Improving speed and consistency of panel decisions relating to justice data
● Involving a greater diversity of internal and external voices to inform the inclusion of
data types in the HMCTS data catalogue (pushing data from government, and pulling
data from other sources where required)
● Researcher working group to include external voices
● Working with journalists in media working group (operational group, not policy)
Data and Standards:
● Establishing a HMCTS data catalogue
● Improving quality of data collected and stored
● Linking to other relevant data sources to augment collected data
● Moving senior data governance panel onto a formal footing and creating a process for transparency, starting from panels that exist and a mechanism for stakeholders to identify and highlight priority datasets
Public involvement:
● Improving public knowledge of workings of justice system including the process for appointing high court judges (and higher levels of judicial seniority)
● Remote courts following on from Coronavirus legislation
Transparency:
● Wider policy considerations around data following efforts to improve quality
● Greater transparency of the Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC), currently working on options for further scrutiny at multiple levels
Next steps:
Attendees of the second meeting are asked to come prepared to discuss the above listed suggestions in greater detail
For additional details or to get involved, please contact:
● Sam Roberts – Head of Open Government: [email protected]
● Kevin Keith – Chair, Open Government Network: [email protected]