Court lists and performance data to go online

Court lists and data on individual courts’ performance are to be made available online under plans expected to be published by the government today. A ‘right to data’ white paper from the Cabinet Office will also set out a timetable for publishing judges’ sentencing remarks online, ahead of their planned televising.

Opening up the judicial system to public scrutiny is a central aim of the government’s ‘open data’ scheme, which will also enable the release of more NHS data for re-use by businesses and citizens.

Francis Maude (pictured), the Cabinet Office minister, says the open data initiative is ‘all about putting the citizen in charge’. However the plans will face criticism from privacy campaigners. In a related development, the National Archives will this week announce plans for the expansion of the website legislation.gov.uk ‘to transform public access to the law’.

• For more see this week’s column by Joshua Rozenberg.