§ Lord Desaiasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they expect to publish the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of the Magistrates' Courts Service. [HL4471]
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)I have today placed copies of the Chief Inspector's Annual Report in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Chief Inspector reports a noticeable improvement in overall proficiency across the service. Magistrates' courts committees have faced up to hard decisions and shown determination in executing them. While further improvements are needed, such as in the management of performance through the monitoring of suitable indicators, magistrates' courts committees are demonstrating an increasing willingness to think strategically.
Although most MCCs continued to show significant weaknesses in managing performance in case administration, all magistrates' courts committees inspected achieved average or better than average case completion times. There were also some encouraging signs of recent improvement. The Chief Inspector also noted that there had been good inter-agency work on the planning and implementation of the new Narey procedures and Youth Court Joint Performance Improvement Plans.