County Court Evidence

Waiting for an internal review by HM Courts and Tribunals Service of their handling of this request.

Dear Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service,

Can you confirm that the County Courts have the facility to view evidence in the following formats:-

1. Memory Stick / USB Stick
2. DVD / CD
3. SD Cards (various sizes)
4. MP3 recordings
5. External hard drive.
6. Any other device to store data (Video and / or audio)

Please can you confirm any courts other than County Courts also have the facility to accept / view evidence in the above formats.

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Data Access & Compliance Unit, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Thank you for your e-mail, I am writing to advise you that your enquiry does not fall under the Freedom of Information regime and will be treated by the department as Official Correspondence.
 
It may be helpful if I explain that the Freedom of Information Act (2000) gives individuals and organisations the right of access to all types of recorded information held, at the time the request is received, by public authorities such as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Section 84 of the Act states that in order for a request for information to be handled as a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, it must be for recorded information. For example, a Freedom of Information request would be for a copy of a policy, rather than an explanation as to why we have that policy in place. On occasion, the Ministry of Justice receives requests that do not ask for recorded information, but ask more general questions about, for example, a policy, opinion or a decision.
 
As you are asking for confirmation your query will be dealt with as Official Correspondence and you can expect a response from the appropriate area of the department.
 
If you do have any questions relating specifically to the Freedom of Information or Data Protection Act, please contact the Data Access and Compliance Unit at the following e-mail address: [HMCTS request email].

Many Thanks

Laura 

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Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

Please provide all recorded information you do hold in connection to the services you provide.

Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Dear Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service's handling of my FOI request 'County Court Evidence'.

HMCTS have failed to follow the FOI Act and answer these simple questions that you must hold recorded
information on , or is evidence or the lack of it ok in your courts ?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Bob BIbby

Data Access & Compliance Unit, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Dear Mr Bibby,

Thank you for your email.

Your request has not been treated as an FOI therefore you are not entitled to a Internal review.

I have chased HMCTS for you and hope you will receive a response shortly.

Many Thanks

Laura

Laura Watson| Business Manager | Communication and Information Directorate | Ministry of Justice 10.34, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ | www.justice.gov.uk  | @MoJGovUK | @MoJPress

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Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

On 18th March 2016 your department was sent the following, therefore this is a foi request for recorded information and you should have answered by law within the time period allowed.
" Please provide all recorded information you do hold in connection to the services you provide"

Obviously from your non response you do not wish people to know how they can bring evidence into your courts is this because you prefer not to see or hear any evidence at all ?
Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

Why is the MOJ and HMCTS failing to provide an answer or can judges simply refuse to view any evidence therefore you would prefer that none was filed into the court ?

How can justice be seen to be done if you refuse to say in what format you will accept evidence and will not say whether judges can simply ignore it ?

Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

HMCTS is incorrect this was placed under the FOIA and I require all the information and data you hold and you are required to provide an answer by law.

Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

Is the real reason that Her Majesty's Courts and the Tribunals Service will not answer is because all your courts and tribunals are judge led and opinion based and they can simply ignore and refuse any evidence that does not suit the agenda ?

Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Bob BIbby left an annotation ()

Evidence must be allowed to be see and heard if we are to have a justice system that works for more than just the selected few .

At the present time the so-called civil county court is a disgrace and should be scrapped !

Helen Borodzicz left an annotation ()

Bob Bibby, I have various experience of the court system. I have found that judges are grateful for any concrete evidence that will help them arrive at their decision.
Also, which evidence they accept or reject is entirely at their discretion. And a judge's discretion is never appealable.
Further one must not confuse HMCTS with judicial-decision making. HMCTS are purely administrative. They have no say in what decision a judge arrives at. As an analogy they are the school caretaker and not the teacher.

Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,

Please confirm in what format the county court accepts evidence , even if this evidence can be completely ignored by the judge.

Yours sincerely,

Bob BIbby

Helen Borodzicz left an annotation ()

Bob, you've got the thing upside down. The judge is not an employee of HMCTS. The justice system is not modelled on business.
HMCTS support the judge. They are the secretary not the boss. They can't tell a judge which evidence "they" accept. It is for the judge to accept or reject whatever evidence a party puts forward.
That said our courts are not well-equipped enough to deal with evidence in every form.
If you are unhappy with that then it is the Ministry of Justice you should complain to. They hold the purse strings for the justice system. But they are well aware of the technological limitations of the average county court and big changes are in the pipeline.

Helen Borodzicz left an annotation ()

Woops, sorry Bob. I meant to PM you the above message.