Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the criteria are for determining (a) high, (b) medium and (c) low risk errors recorded on the Common Platform.

It is the function of HM Courts and Tribunals staff to make sure that systems are in place to enable the adjudication of the court to be accurately recorded in the Crown Court and the magistrates’ courts. The Common Platform is a new system for recording the decision of the court and training plans for legal advisers in magistrates’ courts include reference to ‘resulting risk levels’ of high, medium, and low, to highlight the potential impact of an error and the need for accuracy. No formal criteria were set out for the categorisation of these errors; the assessment was made by a group of experienced magistrates’ courts legal advisers. The training arrangements for staff initially involve the checking of all results entered onto the Common Platform by an individual. Only when there is assurance of consistent accuracy levels across all result types is ‘on the day’ checking reduced or removed for individual members of staff, with ongoing assurance provided through the regular governance checks.