We have heard a lot over recent months about the digitisation of the criminal justice system under the guise of the Common Platform Program (CPP). The program aims to modernise the criminal justice system by creating a single unified platform for use by courts, Police, CPS and other authorised parties.

However, following an investigation into CPP's current state-of-play, IT news website The Register has reported that the project is suffering from delays in delivery and rising costs, noting that the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) have given the project an "amber/red" rating - meaning the project is expected to go over-schedule and/or over-budget. The report goes on to say that the head of the Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, and the chief executive of the civil service, John Manzoni, have both expressed concerns about the project, and that some insiders consider the "agile" development undertaken so far to have delivered little more than "vapourware".

Despite the delivery deadline for CPP being extended to 2020 and the lack of tangible progress since work started in 2014, HMCTS shows no sign of losing faith in the project, stating that it provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to design and build a fully connected criminal courtroom by 2020.

The full article can be read here.