Judicial Diversity Taskforce (Annual Report)
Shailesh Vara Excerpts(9 years, 4 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara)
The judicial diversity taskforce has today published its fourth annual report, which details the progress the group has made in addressing the 53 recommendations of the advisory panel on judicial diversity. The taskforce comprises of senior members of the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Bar Council, the Law Society, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and the Ministry of Justice.
Our judges are rightly held in high regard around the world, and it is important that they reflect today’s diverse society, which is why we are pleased such significant progress was made by members of the taskforce over 2014. In large part this was driven by our collaborative approach to improving diversity and engaging in new ways of working across the legal and judicial professions.
Some of the achievements of the taskforce include:
Successful implementation of the equal merit provision; which allows for a candidate to be recommended for appointment for the purpose of improving diversity within the judiciary in instances when two or more candidates are of equal merit.
Extending the opportunity for salaried office holders to sit part time in the High Court and above.
Identification of ways to improve the selection and recommendation process for judicial appointments through an external review.
Improvements in statistical reporting, and in data collection and management, to better monitor and evaluate progress on judicial diversity.
Arranging a series of workshops and training programmes aimed at encouraging under- represented groups to enter the judiciary.
Increasing the amount of Diversity and Community Relation Judges, who play a key role in outreach events and act as figureheads for diversity and community engagement.
The judicial diversity taskforce held its last meeting in November 2014 and this will be its final annual report.
The oversight function of the taskforce will now be the responsibility of the Judicial Diversity Forum, which brings together most of the parties who were in the taskforce. The forum will continue to review progress against the outstanding and ongoing recommendations listed at the end of the report, and will work to identify new opportunities for action. This will ensure that the goal of improving judicial diversity continues to be embedded in the working practices of the judiciary, legal professions and Government.
Copies of the taskforce’s report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The report is also available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/judicial-diversity-taskforce-annual-report-2014
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Oral Answers to Questions
Shailesh Vara Excerpts(9 years, 4 months ago)
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Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)
3. What plans he has for the future of the court estate in Gloucestershire.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara)
The court estate in Gloucestershire, and across England and Wales, is a major asset of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. Any new proposals on the future of the courts will be subject to consultation.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Will my hon. Friend, as part of the Courts and Tribunals Service reform programme, consider establishing one purpose-built building to house all court services?
Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)
I have discussed the issue of the courts in Gloucestershire—and in Gloucester in particular, where we have a Crown court that predates the battle of Waterloo—with the Minister and his predecessors for several years. As my neighbour and colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), has said, our courts are in a dire position. Will he confirm today that the Department will look very closely at the state of the courts and take advantage of the opportunity to use the site we have reserved free of charge in Blackfriars?
Mr Vara
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his re-election. I know the issue of the court structure was a key element in the general election. It is good to see that, post-election, he continues to battle for that cause. We have met and corresponded on this issue, so he will be aware that, as we speak, officials are engaged in considering the best way forward.
Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)
4. What progress he has made on ensuring that prisoners undertake work in prisons.
Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)
The Government recently announced that they were going ahead with a further 8.75% fee cut to criminal legal aid, the second in a year. The existing system, especially the online Crown Commercial Service system, is already wholly inadequate. What justification is there for further cuts, other than to further reduce access to justice for those most in need?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara)
May I first welcome the hon. Lady to the House?
It is important that we recognise that we have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world, and that it needs to be sustainable. It has to be fair to the people who need legally aided advice, fair to the providers and fair to the taxpayer, who ultimately pays for it. As far as the latest 8.75% cut is concerned, we have made sure that there will be proper access for all those who need legal advice.
Legal Aid
Shailesh Vara Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara)
I am today confirming next steps for the criminal legal aid market.
Maintaining access to justice and upholding the principle that those accused of a crime have the right to representation in their defence is vitally important. We recognise and value the reputation our legal profession enjoys internationally. We must preserve that reputation while enhancing the quality of advocacy in our courts.
We cannot escape the fact, however that there is a pressing need to ensure our criminal justice system performs more efficiently. Last year we spent £1.7 billion on legal aid. Although that is down from the 2009-10 peak, it is still far higher than many other developed economies. As a proportion of GDP, we spend more on legal aid than any other EU nation outside the UK. And per capita, we spend more on legal aid than most other common law jurisdictions––double the amount spent in Australia, Canada and the Republic of Ireland.
Of course no two legal systems are identical, but there is no doubt we still have a generous system compared to other countries. The continuing need to reduce the deficit means that we must make further progress. We must secure greater efficiencies while maintaining a high quality service and guaranteeing that everyone accused of a crime has the same access to a legal aid lawyer as they do now.
The coalition Government announced a series of changes to secure savings in criminal legal aid, including:
Reducing litigators’ fees by 17.5%, with last year’s initial reduction of 8.75% followed by a further reduction of 8.75% this year.
Proceeding to introduce 527 new duty provider contracts, the tender for which was put out prior to the election.
Reducing advocacy fees by £10 million per year.
In considering the programme set in train by the previous Government for the criminal legal aid market, we have listened very carefully to the concerns of the profession. We share the view that we must protect the quality of the service provided by litigators and that we must make sure that this high quality service remains sustainable in all parts of England and Wales. We recognise that changes in the litigation market have the potential to affect the provision of advocacy, and agree that high quality advocacy also must be preserved and enhanced. We will be taking steps to work with the profession to explore measures to achieve this.
Having considered the findings of Sir Brian Leveson’s report into the efficiency of the criminal courts, the impact of broader criminal justice reforms, and the impact of changes already introduced, we have decided to press ahead with the second 8.75% reduction to litigators’ fees announced by the coalition Government.
Before reaching this conclusion, we examined changes to our forecast legal aid expenditure, changes to the existing market, provider withdrawal rates and reasons, contract extension acceptance and early information from the duty provider contract tender. This reassured us that legal aid reforms so far have not had any substantial negative impact on the sustainability of the service.
The statutory instrument implementing this reduction will be laid today, and the change will come into force on 1 July.
We will also proceed with the new duty provider contracts, the tender for which is already well underway. The Legal Aid Agency is currently assessing bids and is on track to announce decisions in the autumn. As intended by the coalition Government, these changes will help mitigate the impact of the cut to litigators’ fees. Organisations that are awarded duty provider contracts will have exclusive access to duty contract work and will benefit from economies of scale. Together, these changes will ensure there is a sustainable duty solicitor service across England and Wales.
We are particularly keen to ensure we retain a vibrant independent bar and protect the high standard of advocacy which is a hallmark of our justice system. Having listened carefully to the case put by the profession, we have decided not to reduce advocacy fees at this stage. Instead we want to work closely with the profession in order to explore alternative ways of securing savings through greater efficiencies in criminal proceedings. That will include implementing the findings of Sir Brian Leveson’s report, which contained wide-ranging recommendations to deliver more efficient criminal courts.
Taken together, these changes must be closely monitored in order to ensure we preserve access to justice and high quality advocacy. We will therefore establish a review to assess the impact of the litigators’ fee reduction and the dual contracting model on access to justice and the quality of litigation and advocacy provision. This review will be undertaken by an individual independent of Government, and will commence in July 2016.
Although the transition will be challenging, the changes we are pressing ahead with today are designed to ensure that we have a system of criminal legal aid that delivers value for money to taxpayers, that provides high quality legal advice to those that need it most, and that puts the profession on a sustainable footing for the long term.
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