My con­tri­bu­tion to the Gov­ern­ment web­site with sug­ges­tions for open­ing up data is here. Prob­ably not quite what they had in mind…

Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?

It’s vital in an open soci­ety that all cit­izens should be able to access and fol­low the pro­ceed­ings of our courts. That access is medi­ated by report­ers, and lim­ited by space.

Cur­rently, you can search tran­scripts from the Old Bailey from the 18C for free online, but you have to form­ally request and then pay a sub­con­tractor for access to tran­scripts from the 21C.

Daily tran­scripts would provide a level of trans­par­ency and author­ity on court pro­ceed­ings that would enable the pub­lic to see for them­selves how decisions are made and increase trans­par­ency and pub­lic under­stand­ing of the pro­cess of justice.

What inform­a­tion or ser­vices do you need?

Access to the elec­tronic tran­scripts kept in courts.