GOOD BYE (OR IS IT?) TO THE FOLLOWING:
- Administrative Justice and Tribunal Council (who cares about the Tribunals anyway?)
- Chief Coroner of England and Wales/Chief Coroner’s Office (although you never actually were appointed anyway) - big shame this -I had high hopes for this new office!
- Courts Boards (x 19) (What did they ever do?)
- Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (to merge with CPS)
- HM Inspectorate of Court Administration (that's an excellent idea - I image levels of service are now so low that there has long been no need for inspection)
- Legal Services Commission (LSC to become in house Executive Agency)
- Legal Services Ombudsman (although that has been re-born as the Legal Ombudsman - so not really good-bye)
- Magistrates’ Courts Rule Committee (who needs rules in the Mags Courts?)
- Victim's Advisory Panel (yes - victims are now not important again)
- Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (indeed - why do we need a Board to focus on justice for the most vulnerable alleged criminals?)
- Rent Assessment Panels / Residential Property Tribunal Service (to become part of Tribunal Service and then will be re-named - so more au revoir really - to become the Land, Property and Housing Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal )
THE FOLLOWING ARE GOING TO BE REDUCED:
- Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace (x 101) - Merge and reduce number to 49
- Equality and Human Rights Commission - Retain and substantially reform
THESE ARE ON THE AT RISK REGISTER:
- Judicial Appointments Commission - Under consideration - Under consideration - but subject to Judicial Appointments Review (Barristers don't like the JAC - it keeps turning down their applications to be Recorders - hope it goes and gets replaced with something more amenable!)
- Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman - Under consideration - Under consideration - but subject to Judicial Appointments Review
AND I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO APPEAR BEFORE THIS ONE - SO PLEASE DON'T GET RID OF IT BEFORE I GET THE CHANCE:
- Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal - Under consideration - Currently considering, by the end of 2010, scope to transfer jurisdiction of this tribunal into MoJ’s tribunal service.
MoJ's tribunal service? ... and there's me thinking that tribunals were now supposedly independent of the executive !!
ReplyDeleteAll at arm's length, you understand!
ReplyDelete@ Barrister in London - Quite !
ReplyDeleteOf course, on paper, the Tribunals Service is an "executive agency" of the Ministry of Justice and so is Her Majesty's Court Service. From 1st April 2011 the two agencies merge into one.
I understand that Tribunal Judiciary will eventually come under the Lord Chief Justice but this requries primary legislation.
Personally, I think the government should publish the reasoning for each of the public body changes (abolition or whatever). It is not, IMHO, good enough to simply assert the saving of money when it is rather debatable just how much money will actually be saved. The public ought to be informed of the reasons why the work of each body is either not required or why it can be performed better elsewhere; what the financial savings are; what the costs are in the change etc. Too much to expect? Maybe. Makes one wonder just which part of "accountability" they choose to ignore when it comes to themselves.
"Magistrates’ Courts Rule Committee (who needs rules in the Mags Courts?)"
ReplyDeleteThere are rules in the mags court? You learn something new everyday.