§ Mr. StephenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has for organisational change in the management of the court service.
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Mr. John M. TaylorAfter detailed consideration, the Lord Chancellor has concluded that a move to executive agency status is the right way forward for the court service and he envisages setting up the service as an agency in April 1995.
Agency status will provide the management of the court service with a clearer focus on the job to be done, and greater flexibility to respond to the changing needs of all court users.
The agency will comprise the staff of the unified court service. It will exclude the staff of the magistrates court service, which is locally managed and whose organisation is dealt with in the White Paper "A Framework for Local Justice".
The conversion of the court service into an agency will not affect the judiciary, either in its independent role and functions or in its relations with the administration.
Consultation with the judiciary and the trade union side on this subject has recently begun and will continue with them, and with other interested parties, throughout the implementation period.