Courts: President hits out at 'ridiculous' financial planning

An unlikely row over IT cabling ducts broke out this week, as Law Society President Kevin Martin said it was 'ridiculous' that ducts at the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) stood 'completely empty'.


Mr Martin told delegates at the Law Society's Solicitors 2005 conference last week: 'There must be a better and more joined-up use of technology. At the RCJ you will see expensive and extensive ducts for computer cabling - but they stand completely empty. Apparently the Treasury provided enough money for the ducts, but not for the cabling and the computers. How ridiculous is that?'


However, the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) insisted that installation of the ducts was 'a proper and efficient use of taxpayers' money'.


A DCA spokesman told the Gazette: 'We disagree; it is not ridiculous. The RCJ is a listed building, and so we cannot just put cables in anywhere we want. The ducts had to be installed by a specialist contractor.


'The network has now been installed right throughout the building, and most members of staff now have access to it. Some of the ducts are currently unused, but they were put in to allow for flexibility for office moves. Without that flexibility we would have to install new ducts when staff moved offices, which would be a waste of money.


'This has been a proper and efficient use of taxpayers' money. The ducts are there, ready for future use.'


Last year, Lord Justice Brooke, vice-president of the Court of Appeal's civil division, warned that the civil justice system was in crisis because of a £160 million backlog of essential IT investment (see [2004] Gazette, 9 December, 9). He blamed a decision by the Treasury in July 2002 to cancel a plan to upgrade the civil and family courts' IT systems.