Given the prevalence of government-funded inquiries, the frequency with which the government uses them following high-profile failures, their importance in relation to the public’s trust of authorities, and the public funds spent on them, the NAO has conducted an investigation into the 26 inquiries that have started and concluded since 2005.
In this report we outline what HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) change portfolio to modernise and upgrade the justice system will deliver, consider early progress against plans and explore how HMCTS and its partners have managed the change portfolio and the risks it faces in the future.
The Environmental Audit Committee requested a review of sustainability within the Ministry of Justice.
The NAO is publishing a suite of short guides for the new Parliament, one for each government department and a selection of cross-government issues, to assist House of Commons select committees and members of Parliament.
The case for a huge expansion of electronic monitoring using GPS was unproven, but the Ministry of Justice pursued an overly ambitious and high risk strategy anyway. Ultimately it has not delivered.
Government does not know how many people in prison have a mental illness, how much it is spending on mental health in prisons or whether it is achieving its objectives. It is therefore hard to see how Government can be achieving value for money in its efforts to improve the mental health and well being of prisoners. In 2016 there were 40,161 incidents of self-harm in prisons and 120 self-inflicted deaths.
This Departmental Overview looks at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and summarises its performance during the year ended March 2016, together with our recent reports on it.
There has been a greater focus on enforcing criminal confiscation orders, but there remain fundamental weaknesses in the system.
Despite some improvements in the management of court cases, around two-thirds of criminal trials do not proceed as planned on the day they are originally scheduled. Delays and aborted hearings create extra work, waste scarce resources and undermine confidence in the justice system.
There was an estimated net loss of £1.1m when Just Solutions International, the commercial arm of the National Offender Management Service, set up to sell consultancy advice abroad, was closed in September 2015.