Lord Chief Justice Urges “No IT Spending Cuts”
The Lord Chief Justice, also Head of Criminal Justice and President of the Courts in England and Wales, has expressed his concerns towards “wholly outdated” technology.
Speaking at his annual press conference last week, the Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said he urges MPs to ensure IT budgets are not cut in the coming years or the “justice system would face a severe crisis.”
“We have not been able to use modern technology, for example, just for carrying out those, in doing a judgment,” the Lord Chief Justice claimed.
“I am doing it on Word 2003 with the XP operating system (OS) which Microsoft is supporting by special arrangement,” he added.
In April this year, support for the IT giant’s 2001 OS, along with its Office 2003 and Exchange 2003, ended.
No Online Systems For Users Or Staff
The Judge also claimed he does not have access to proper system for people to do claims online or an electronic filing system, which means that once a document is lost, it truly is gone.
He added that an investment would allow his Department to do more online.
“If the investment goes through and, as I was saying earlier, we look at different ways of doing and delivering justice, we can deliver it at a cost that is less than now,” the Lord Chief Justice claimed.
“How much less and what the cuts should be, I think at the moment it would be too difficult for me to speculate by going beyond that,” he added.
Although the top Jude worries about the technology available within his Department, the Ministry of Justice is currently progressing through its digital strategy.
© 24N.biz
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