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12 April 2000

The Lord Chancellor's Department today published Sir Jeffery Bowman's year-long Review of the Crown Office List.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, welcomed the report.

He said: "I am very grateful to the members of the Review, and in particular Sir Jeffery Bowman for chairing it. Sir Jeffery's Review forms an important part of the ongoing programme of civil justice modernisation.

"The Review recognises the value of a specialised court to deal with public and administrative law cases, and concludes there is a need to strengthen its expertise further. I support the recommendation that the Crown Office List should be renamed 'The Administrative Court', to reflect more adequately the nature of the work done there.

"It is important that proposed procedural changes for judicial review, the largest area of activity in the Crown Office List, are implemented in time for the introduction of the Human Rights Act in October. To allow for early consultation, officials have been working with Sir Jeffery's Review Team on the procedures, in advance of publication.

"I have already anticipated elements of other recommendations by putting in place measures to help reduce the backlog of work in the Crown Office. I have appointed an additional four High Court judges and at least 11 courts will be hearing Crown Office work for the whole of the summer term. This will mean that the Crown Office will be hitting the targets proposed in Sir Jeffery's Report by the end of September.

"Those changes will greatly enhance Crown Office performance for all cases, including the very large number arising from immigration and asylum claims. Improving performance in this area is amongst the Government's highest priorities and I am grateful for Sir Jeffery's help."

The Review also recommends a comprehensive study in the area of tribunals. The Lord Chancellor welcomes this proposal and will make a detailed announcement on the subject in a speech to the Council of Tribunals conference on 18 May.

Notes for Editors

1. Reporters may obtain copies of the Review from the LCD press office, tel: 020-7210 8512.

2. Members of the public and legal professions may obtain copies of the Review from Michael Wrankmore, tel: 020-7210 8515 or e-mail

3. The Lord Chancellor invited Sir Jeffery to undertake a Review of the Crown Office in February 1999. His terms of reference were to examine:

1. the rules and procedures which apply to work in the Crown Office List;
2. the resources, procedures and working methods of the Crown Office;
3. the appropriateness of the jurisdictions within the Crown Office List and, in particular, the most appropriate manner in which to deal with appeals from Statutory Tribunals; and
4. the constitution and organisation of the courts handling the Crown Office List.

He was also asked to take into account:

• the need to achieve an early and significant reduction in the waiting times for applications for judicial review in asylum cases;
• the additional pressures on judicial review that will be created when the Human Rights Act comes into force;
• the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 1994 Report, Administrative Law: Judicial Review and Statutory Appeals, and by Lord Woolf in his Access to Justice Reports, and
• the civil justice reforms and new Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Directions.

5. Sir Jeffery Bowman retired in 1993 from Price Waterhouse after 35 years during which he was Senior Partner of the UK firm and of Price Waterhouse Europe and Joint Chairman of the World Firm. In 1996/7 he chaired the Review of the Court of Appeal, Civil Division.

6. Other members of the Review Team were: Lord Justice Simon Brown; Mr Justice Keene; Ms Anne Owers, Director of 'Justice'; Professor Jeffrey Jowell, QC of University College London; Miss Bernadette Kenny, Director of Operational Policy for the Court Service; and Mr Alan Cogbill, Director of Civil Justice and Legal Services at LCD HQ.

7. The Queen's Bench Division of the High Court has a special supervisory and appellate jurisdiction - distinct from its ordinary jurisdiction to try civil actions - by which it oversees the legality of decisions and actions of inferior courts, tribunals, local authorities, Ministers of the Crown and other bodies and officials. Clerical and judicial responsibilities for this public law litigation rests with the Crown Office. Proceedings required to be processed in the Crown Office are included within the scope of the Crown Office List, which contains what is in effect the administrative law jurisdiction of England and Wales.

ENDS

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