Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) trial and (2) introduce artificial intelligence to speed up legal processes and reduce the courts backlog.

The Government continues to explore the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency of courts and legal processes.

The Ministry of Justice has established a new Justice AI Unit, led by the Department’s first Chief AI Officer, to develop a comprehensive AI strategy for the Department and its agencies.

With regards to the criminal courts, the Government is committed to bearing down on the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court and the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts led by Sir Brian Leveson will assess how the use of new technologies, including AI, could be used to improve efficiency across the criminal courts. Furthermore, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has ambitious plans to leverage new technologies to redesign and enhance legal systems and processes. Plans include the integration of AI into casework, potentially unlocking thousands of hours in improved productivity.

In the Family Courts, we are considering where both policy and technology can work together to improve services. We are seeking to reduce demand by using AI to signpost people to the right information to assist in their situation and provide AI tools such as parent arrangement planners to help separating parents to resolve issues quickly and without the need to involve courts. We aim to blend both AI, other technologies and policy to form cohesive services that address both court backlogs and court demand.