Good use of data is critical to good policy-making and the effective running of public services. This is just as true of the justice system as it is of other domains. Data is needed to manage the operation of the system, to identify bottlenecks where they exist, to understand how different interventions – and the system as a whole – affect the outcomes we care about and to promote the principle of open justice while protecting people’s right to privacy and dignity. But justice is an especially complex area, with the constitutional need for independence between different parts of the system giving rise to a litany of different organisations responsible for different aspects, and therefore various data owners with different systems and different priorities.

This report explores how data, broadly defined though with a particular focus on statistical data, can be collected, managed and used more effectively across the justice system. The authors examine the organisations and processes leading up to, during and after court and tribunal appearances.