Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what purposes HM Courts and Tribunals Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

Work to date has involved early-stage testing of solutions including productivity tools like Microsoft Co-pilot, intelligent document processing, knowledge management and transcription, to help our staff operate effectively and efficiently. However, we currently have no live AI systems in use across our operations and front-line services.

A small number of staff are trialling the use of Microsoft 365 Co-pilot as part of a Ministry of Justice wide pilot, looking to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks.

HMCTS can draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform AI usage. For example, the Generative AI Ethics Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework, the AI Opportunities Action Plan and the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.