Issue - meetings

To update the Orbis Public Law Joint Committee on a number of IT projects which enable the operation of the single service.

The Committee considered the report on the implementation of projects which will provide the process and systems to enable savings relating to operation of a single service, introduced by Andrea Kilby.

Key points raised during the meeting:

The Committee were informed that the Digital Court project has been providing electronic bundles to the family court instead of hard copy leaver arch files. To enable this, a ‘cloud’ based software solution has been procured. The project is now fully implemented across Surrey and Sussex family courts. Tier 1 magistrate implementation is planned for spring 2019.

The implementation has proved to be efficient, with considerable savings predicted to be in the order of £90,000 annually. Along with the costs, the time savings are estimated to be 13,000 hours. It was noted that tablets are provided in court for use by all parties involved and support has been shown by judges to enable the change. Benefits include better security resulting from less emails and no paper copies being posted, positive impact on reputation, reduction on paper and couriers.

The Committee noted the success of the project and felt the idea had potential to be rolled out across the UK as it had been such a great success.

The Committee were updated on the data base rationalisation project. The project aims to create a single instance of the case management system, Civica Prescient Plus, whereby data may be shared by OPL partners. It was noted that the projected savings were £68, 572 over 5 years. Increased speed and efficiency were benefits of the streamlining.

The Committee were informed following questions, that other authorities, including Lancashire are looking into the savings. OPL are happy to trial different ways of working and are accepting of change.

RESOLVED: That the Committee dually noted the benefits already realised and the future benefits these key projects will bring for all OPL partners.