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6.5 The Lab can report positive achievements against all eight CCT case level indicators, contributing to the goals of the WFGA. The Final Evaluation identified specific factors which were seen to have supported the successful delivery against the CCT indicators. For example, the integration of the CCTs into the day-to-day delivery of the operation, quarterly CCTs meetings led by the CCT Champion, and strong alignment between the operation’s core areas of research and the CCTs. 6.6 However, some challenges have been experienced. Two key challenges are highlighted. First, whilst most of the capital elements of the physical infrastructure were delivered as planned, the completion of the Cyber Threats Suite was delayed by over a year from summer 2020 to winter 2021, including owing to procurement challenges and the complexity of designing the suite to adhere to PASF status. As a result, the Cyber Threats Suite has yet to secure PASF standard accreditation, and staff have not been able to conduct projects involving the use of secure or sensitive data as originally planned. 6.7 Second, delays in staff recruitment presented a challenge, particularly the recruitment of the LegalTech research team. Recruitment challenges, alongside changes to the staffing structure included in the re-profile, means that in practice recruitment was ongoing for much of the operation’s lifetime. This led to a lack of continuity and some loss of momentum in delivery. 6.8 Consistent with these challenges, despite a re-profile at a mid-point, there has been a consistent underspend against budget throughout the lifetime of the operation. By the end of the ERDF-period a material underspend of £800k is expected. A range of factors have contributed to the underspend including the recruitment challenges, the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, and lower than expected construction costs. This said, the re-profile provided an opportunity to expand and change the staffing structure and include new activities, such as the Virtual LegalTech platform which are expected to deliver benefits over the longer-term. 6.9 Findings related to the effectiveness of the governance of the operation are mixed . Positively, there has been continuity in the operation Board in driving delivery, and this mechanism was seen by consultees for the Final Evaluation to have worked well overall; this was consistent with the findings at the Mid-Term stage. However, there were several changes in the governance structure related to individual strands of activity, and the proposed LegalTech and Virtual LegalTech platform Advisory Boards were not established. This resulted in lower levels of external inputs and strategic insight to steer the delivery of these elements of activity, and to maintain momentum than would have been optimal; this represents a missed opportunity for the operation.
Recommendations
6.10 In the context of these conclusions, the following recommendations are made:
Legal Innovation Lab Wales
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