HC Deb 07 February 2002 vol 379 cc1133-4W
Mr. George Howarth

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many complaints he has received since taking office concerning the conduct of individual judges. [33353]

Mr. Wills

The principle of judicial independence, which is central to our constitutional arrangements, means that it is not open to the Lord Chancellor or his Department to consider complaints about judicial decision. However, as Head of the Judiciary the Lord Chancellor does consider complaints about the personal conduct of individual judges and other judicial office holders. The names of the complainant and the judge are confidential. However, in the period between August 1998 (when new internal arrangements for handling such complaints came into force) and December 2001, the Lord Chancellor received a total of 6,679 complaints about members of the judiciary. The majority of these related to judicial decisions. Of the remainder, 1,227 related to personal conduct and were taken forward for investigation by seeking the complainant's consent for the complaint to be copied to the judge. In 1,034 cases consent was received and the Lord Chancellor then approached the judge concerned for his or her response to the allegations and relayed these to the complainant. On 23 occasions he saw fit to take further action, either by writing to the judge or by arranging for him or her to be seen by officials. Comparable figures for the period before August 1998 are unavailable.

Mr. Watts

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what proposals she has to reduce the retirement age of judges. [33748]

Ms Rosie Winterton

There are currently no proposals to reduce the retirement age for judges.