MAGISTRATES' COURTS: MANAGEMENT REVIEW

HL Deb 17 January 1989 vol 503 cc226-7WA

Lord Coleraine

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What plans they have for a review of the management structures of magistrates' courts.

Earl Ferrers

The magistrates' courts occupy a central position in the criminal justice system. My right honourable friend greatly values the contribution which locally based lay magistrates and their staff make to the effective operation of the courts and the criminal justice system in general. The present arrangements for the management of magistrates' courts date substantially from 1949; since then, there has been a considerable increase in the volume and complexity of their work and in the resources used by them. Against this background, my right honourable friend thinks it timely to examine radically the management and organisational structure of magistrates' courts and the arrangements which govern their resources and their use with a view to identifying how these might be improved. My right honourable friend has therefore set in hand a scrutiny of magistrates' courts with the following terms of reference:

1. (i) to review the present arrangements governing the distribution, management and control of resources in magistrates' courts;
2. (ii) with due regard to the advantages of a locally based system of summary justice, to make recommendations to ensure that the mechanisms, at national and local level, for determining resource levels and resource management and control are best suited to the efficient, economic and effective discharge of the responsibilities of the magistrates' courts;
3. (iii) to make proposals for any changes in management structures in the magistrates' courts service;
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4. (iv) to identify the potential for further action to reduce unit costs magistrates' courts, shorten delays and improve fine enforcement; and
5. (v) to ensure that recommendations under paragraphs (i) to (iv) above are consistent with the legitimate interests of defendants, parties to civil proceedings, legal representatives, witnesses and the various criminal justice agencies.

The scrutiny will be carried out by a team of officials led by Mr. Julian Le Vay (grade 5, Home Office) under the ministerial supervision of my right honourable friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Mr. John Patten). The scrutiny will begin in mid-February and my right honourable friend expects to receive its report in June.