Progress: system that sets out orders and directions in criminal cases given go-ahead

A national case progression system connecting defence lawyers, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and Crown and magistrates' courts has been given the funding go-ahead.


The system, dubbed Progress, is co-funded by the CPS, the Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs. It is still in development, with a view to being introduced in phases in 2007.


Progress should be able to give details of orders and directions with supporting basic case information for criminal cases where a 'not guilty' plea has been entered. The system should plug into the Libra and Xhibit networks currently being phased in for magistrates' and Crown Courts respectively.


Originating in a system tried out in Manchester, Progress will undergo testing there and in Essex this summer, ahead of the 2007 rollout.


Mike Jones, honorary secretary of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and a partner at Grayson Willis Bennett in Sheffield, has been involved in the development of Progress since December 2004, and backs the early involvement of those who will actually be using the system. 'It is heartening to see defence firms consulted from the outset,' he said.


According to a statement by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR), the system's developer, court staff will be able to access Progress over the government's secure intranet system and defence solicitors will be able to gain access using a secure Web site. CPS staff should get access through their case management system when it is upgraded to include links to Progress.


The OCJR also stated that Progress will be 'the first application to use the Strategic Portal - a single IT platform which links the systems used in the criminal justice system (CJS) together'. Whether this portal system will fare any better in implementation or deadlines to completion only time will tell.


It may take until 2007 for certain elements of what developers hope will become an integrated CJS IT backbone to be finished. Much of the country has yet to see the magistrates' court Libra system even piloted, with London's pilot still ongoing. Xhibit, the system for Crown courts, is apparently faring far better, but there is still much to do to produce the background on which Progress can be projected.


Link: www.cjit.gov.uk/in-your-area