§ Mr. Percivalasked the Attorney-General if he will make a statement about the salary proposed for circuit 416W judges to be appointed by virtue of the Courts Act, 1971.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe judges of the new Circuit Bench will have wider responsibilities than the great majority of those who will become circuit judges under the Courts Act at present carry. With the agreement of the Minister for the Civil Service, my noble Friend therefore proposes a salary of £8,300 per annum for them. Under the Act, judges now in office who receive higher salaries than this will, of course, continue to enjoy them. He considers that the additional judicial responsibilities of the senior judge at what is now Inner London Sessions should be marked by a salary of £9,500, which is what the Recorders of the Crown Courts at Liverpool and Manchester at present receive. He also considers that the nature of the work performed by the judges at present known as Official Referees of the Supreme Court will continue to call for special recognition, and he proposes a salary of £8,750 per annum for them.
We have had the advantage of consultation about these series with Lord Boyle, as Chairman of the Top Salaries Review Body. These salaries will be open to review by that body when they come to consider the remuneration of the Judiciary as a whole.