LCD Press Notice 386/99 - 14 December 1999
LORD CHANCELLOR LAUNCHES REVIEW OF THE CRIMINAL
COURTS
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, today announced a wide ranging, independent
review of the criminal courts. He has appointed Lord Justice Auld, a senior Lord Justice
in the Court of Appeal, to review how the criminal courts work at every level.
Lord Irvine said "I have today appointed Lord Justice Auld to conduct a wide ranging,
independent Review of the Criminal Courts in England and Wales. The terms of
reference of his Review are:
'A review into the practices and procedures of, and the rules of evidence applied
by, the criminal courts at every level, with a view to ensuring that they deliver
justice fairly, by streamlining all their processes, increasing their efficiency and
strengthening the effectiveness of their relationships with others across the
whole of the criminal justice system, and having regard to the interests of all
parties including victims and witnesses, thereby promoting public confidence in
the rule of law.'
"The Government's aim is to provide criminal courts which are - and are seen to be:
modern and in touch with the communities they serve;
efficient;
fair and responsive to the needs of all their users;
co-operative in their relations with other criminal justice agencies; and
with modern and effective case management to remove unnecessary
delays from the system
"The Government has already undertaken a wide range of initiatives to improve the
performance of every part of the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on
ensuring that it works as a unified system.
"For the first time, we have a single Strategic Plan for the whole system, with
performance measures and targets which apply right across the board and not merely
to individual departments and agencies.
"The Review will complement the work already under way to improve the criminal
courts. Earlier this year my Department published a consultation document on
Transforming the Crown Court. Reforms to tackle delay, commonly known as
the Narey reforms, were introduced nationally in the magistrates' courts at the
beginning of November.
"There has been considerable change in the magistrates' courts and the Crown Court
over the past few years. Further major changes, for example on information
technology, are planned.
"The Review is without prejudice to all the initiatives in progress for the criminal courts,
but will obviously consider them too. For the first time, the work of the magistrates
courts and the Crown Court will be reviewed as a unity and not as two separate
jurisdictions.
"At the same time, we must maintain and enhance standards of due process in the
criminal courts.
"The coming into force next year of the Human Rights Act will give extra force to the
requirements of fairness. So we have to be sure that the court system, its
administration, its methods and procedures, are capable of meeting all these demands.
"All this adds up to a challenging agenda for Lord Justice Auld.
"To assist him in developing radical improvement, I propose to appoint a small number
of expert consultees to give him informal advice. They will be people of broad-based
experience, not all drawn from the criminal justice system.
"The process of reforming the system, like the system itself, must not draw exclusively
on its own experience and viewpoints. I will announce the names of these expert
consultees as soon as possible. They will give real help to Lord Justice Auld but the
conclusions and recommendations which he brings forward will be his and his alone.
"I have asked Lord Justice Auld to report if possible by the end of December 2000, but
that is a tight timetable.
"He and I recognise that, in that time scale, he will not be expected to work up a
detailed and costed blueprint for change; his objective will be to produce authoritative
advice to the Government of the lines on which it should be developing the criminal
court system at the beginning of the next millennium.
"This Review is a complement to the highly successful review that Lord Woolf
undertook of the civil courts. The time has come for a similarly fundamental review of
the operation and management of the criminal courts. I am very grateful to Sir Robin
Auld for agreeing to undertake what I believe will prove to be a historic report which
will improve the delivery of criminal justice to the people of England and Wales."
Notes to Editors
Lord Justice Auld's Review will start in early January 2000.
The Secretary to the Review from 4 January 2000 will be:
Michael Kron CBE
Lord Chancellor's Department,
Selborne House,
54 Victoria Street,
London SW1E 6QW
tel: 0171-210 8749
fax: 0171-210-8845
email:
[email protected]
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