The Government has withdrawn its demand that the largest archive of court reporting data be deleted.

We reported recently (here) that the Ministry of Justice had ordered Courtsdesk – a company that provides journalists with a service bringing together previously hard-to-discover information about criminal courts into one centralised, accessible, and up-to-date portal – to remove its archive. According to the Minister for Courts and Legal Services, the action was necessary due to allegations (refuted by Courtsdesk) that it had shared its data with a third-party AI company in breach of its agreement with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

The potential loss of the Courtsdesk archive caused concern among journalists, many of whom described it as an “indispensable tool” for discovering otherwise hard-to-obtain information about proceedings in the criminal courts. It also led to campaigns being launched urging the Government to reconsider its position, as well as interventions from opposition MPs.

The campaign appears to have worked: last week, on the day before Courtsdesk was due to delete its archive, it received a letter from the Government Legal Department requesting that it press the pause button while the Government explores options for a way forward. According to a Ministry of Justice spokesperson, in the short term it is exploring how Courtsdesk can re-establish its service while complying with data protection requirements.

At the same time, HMCTS has issued a ‘market engagement notice’ (here) with a view to inviting applicants (including Courtsdesk) to apply for a new licence to “undertake computational analysis of information published by the Court and Tribunal Hearings Service”. To help the development of the licence, potential applicants, journalists, and others are invited to provide their views on, among other things, the type of information that HMCTS should publish.

Finally, the Ministry of Justice has also confirmed that it will be expanding its own service to allow journalists to search for information about court proceedings.

Commenting on the development, Enda Leahy, CEO of Courtsdesk, said: “The government are right to be cautious and careful about how this data is handled and we are determined to show that it has never been put at risk by us. We are responding to the letter from HMCTS with the utmost urgency and in a spirit of full cooperation. We are genuinely hopeful that this marks the beginning of a constructive and lasting re-engagement. We are grateful to the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS for initiating this dialogue and for the constructive tone of their letter. We will provide a full update as soon as we are able to do so”.

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