Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Deputy Prime Minister sets out vision for the justice system, published on 24 February 2026, what estimate he has made of the cost of rolling out the proposed AI courts assistant across HMCTS.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is progressing work to expand the use of AI to support court and tribunal operations across a range of use cases. The Department has not published a single estimate of the cost of rolling out AI across HMCTS, as costs and benefits depend on the specific use case, scope and implementation approach. Any decision to deploy AI-enabled tools more widely would be subject to appropriate evaluation and the development of approved business cases, including affordability and value for money in accordance with HMCTS governance and standards.