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Departmental Report 2003-2004

Purpose

1.1 DCA exists to ensure effective and accessible justice, protect the rights of citizens and modernise the law and constitution.

Strategic objectives

1.2 DCA has six strategic objectives.

I. To ensure the effective delivery of justice

DCA works with others across Government and with local partners to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and empower people to exercise their rights and enforce their responsibilities. We work to reduce the number of ineffective trials and to guarantee the rights of defendants while ensuring that the public are protected and that jurors, victims and witnesses are treated with respect and care.

II. To ensure a fair and effective system of civil and administrative law

DCA works to deliver a fair and effective system of civil and administrative law in order to help reduce anti-social behaviour, tackle asylum abuses, and create sustainable communities. We work to give people access to a choice of proportionate and low-cost ways to resolve disputes including alternatives to court-based systems. We work to make sure that costs are kept to a minimum, delays are avoided and judgements are enforced so that excellent customer service becomes the norm.

III. To reduce social exclusion and protect the vulnerable

DCA works to improve access to justice especially for the socially excluded and vulnerable so that everyone can protect their rights in law. We are improving the effectiveness of the civil and criminal justice system for domestic violence cases and improving decision-making for people with impaired mental capacity, legislating to give transsexual people proper legal recognition in their acquired gender and ensuring that children's welfare remains paramount.

IV. To modernise the constitution and ensure proper access to information by citizens

DCA seeks to establish mutual trust between the citizen and the state by strengthening our democratic processes and institutions, supporting greater freedom of information and ensuring citizens' own personal information is handled with care. We are making it easier for people to vote, reforming the office of Lord Chancellor and creating a new Supreme Court, setting up an independent Judicial Appointments Commission and promoting better understanding of human rights.

V. To increase consumer choice in legal services by improving information and by promoting competition

DCA promotes better access to the justice system by working towards the creation of a market where everyone can get legal services at affordable cost. 'No win, no fee' agreements and moves to increase out of court settlements and alternative dispute resolution procedures are part of this work. We are assessing the regulation of the legal services market with a view to promoting competition and innovation, and improving services for the consumer.

VI. To deliver justice in partnership with the independent judiciary

DCA works to improve the public's confidence in the justice system by making sure it is efficient and understands the problems of the communities that it serves. We work to ensure that the justice system serves everyone irrespective of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. The new Judicial Appointments Commission will establish better transparency and accountability in the selection of judges and open up the bench to a wider diversity of candidates.

How we are organised

1.3 DCA was created as a new Government Department in June 2003. The Secretary of State is Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC. Lord Falconer is also the Lord Chancellor until this office is abolished as part of DCA's legal and constitutional modernisation programme (see Chapter 4).

1.4 The Secretary of State is supported by a Ministerial team and a Corporate Board, led by the Permanent Secretary, Sir Hayden Phillips. Members of the Ministerial team and the Executive Committee of the Corporate Board are shown over the page. More detail on how the DCA is organised can be found at the back of this document in an organisational chart.

1.5 The Corporate Board benefits from the experience and input of four non-executive Directors. Trevor Hall (equality and diversity adviser to the Permanent Secretary) was joined in March 2004 by: the Rt Hon Lord Justice Judge (Deputy Chief Justice for England and Wales); Sir Peter Bonfield (former chief executive of British Telecommunications Plc) and the Hon Barbara Thomas (former partner of a large US law firm and Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission). The purpose of the Corporate Board is to provide strategic oversight, scrutiny of and challenge to the work of DCA in support of the Permanent Secretary.

Rt Hon Lord Falconer QC Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor	David Lammy MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State	Chris Leslie MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State	Lord Filkin CBE Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Sir Hayden Phillips GCB Permanent Secretary	Ian Magee CB Chief Executive	Jonathan Spencer CB Director General Clients and Policy	John Lyon CB Director General
Simon Ball Director General Finance	Sir Ron De Witt KB* Chief Executive Unified Courts Agency	Clare Dodgson* Chief Executive Legal Services Commission *From March 2004

1.6 DCA was responsible for approximately £3bn of public spending in 2003/04. We strive to achieve value for money by delivering outcomes for the public by the most appropriate and cost-effective means. The organisations and delivery agents which were managed or sponsored by DCA, or accountable to the Secretary of State, in 2003/04 included (further details are given in Chapter 6):

a headquarters - responsible for supporting Ministers in the policy, funding and regulatory functions of DCA as well as providing several core services such as finance and human resources;
three sister departments - reporting directly to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs are the Northern Ireland Court Service (providing administrative support to the Courts in Northern Ireland), HM Land Registry (maintains and develops a register of title to freehold and leasehold land throughout England and Wales), and The National Archives (acts as the custodian of the nation's collective memory as revealed in the records of government);
two executive agencies - wholly part of DCA, but with a Chief Executive directly accountable to a Minister are the Court Service which is central to the delivery of justice, running the court system (except magistrates' courts) and the Public Guardianship Office which discharges decisions on behalf of people with mental incapacity and promotes their wellbeing. The Court Service will change in the next year with the creation of the Unified Courts Agency (see Chapter 5);
executive non-departmental public bodies - where there is a non-executive chairman and board appointed by and accountable to DCA. These include the Legal Services Commission (administering legal aid, two-thirds of DCA's budget), and the Office of the Information Commissioner (reports to Parliament on aspects of data protection and freedom of information);
associated offices - a number of bodies associated with DCA such as the Office of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee (which acts in legal proceedings for children, the mentally disabled and others unable to represent themselves), the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman (which oversees the handling of complaints about professionals within the legal system), the Magistrates' Court Service Inspectorate, the Law Commission (which reviews the law and recommends reform); and the Council on Tribunals (which reviews the constitution and performance of certain tribunals); and
independent bodies - falling under DCA's umbrella these include the Judicial Studies Board (whose main role is to meet the training and learning needs of the judiciary and magistracy).

1.7 In June 2003, the administrative functions of the Scotland Office and the Wales Office transferred to DCA. Responsibility for the maintenance of the relationship between Westminster and the devolved administrations in Edinburgh and Cardiff remains with the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales, respectively. The two Offices have produced separate annual reports for 2003/04 (Cm 6227 and Cm 6228) which together with this document make up the complete 2003/04 Departmental Report for DCA.

Performance for 2003/04

1.8 DCA took responsibility for the delivery of the Lord Chancellor's Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA) and associated targets for the SR2002 period (2003/04 to 2005/06) (and all previous spending review periods where there are still 'live' targets that need reporting against) as part of the June 2003 machinery of Government changes.

1.9 The following table is for SR2002 performance. Details of previous spending review periods and DCA's accounts for 2003/04 are in Chapter 7.

Objective 1: To ensure the effective delivery of justice
Target 1: Improve the delivery of justice by increasing the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice to 1.2 million by 2005/06; with an improvement in all CJS areas, a greater increase in the worse-performing areas and a reduction in the proportion of ineffective trials. (Contributing to CJS PSA).
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
Increase the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice to 1.2 million by 2005/06.	The number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice has continued to increase since March 2003 (1.074m). Latest performance (provisional estimate) is 1.096m in the year ending November 2003.
An improvement in all CJS areas.	39 of the 42 CJS areas have improved their performance on the baseline year 2001/02.
A greater increase in the worse- performing areas.	Areas performing below the average have been identified for the purpose of setting area targets for 2004-05. These were sent to areas in February 2004.
A reduction in the proportion of ineffective trials.	Latest performance for the proportion of ineffective trials (quarter ending January 2004) shows: a reduction for Crown Court Centres from 24% (baseline) to 18.8%; a reduction for magistrates' courts from 31% (baseline) to 29.0%.

Narrowing the justice gap

Target 2: Improve the level of confidence in the Criminal Justice System, including increasing that of ethnic minority communities, and increasing year on year the satisfaction of victims and witnesses, while respecting the rights of defendants. (Contributing to CJS PSA).
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
Improve the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system:	Latest performance from the British Crime Survey (BCS) for the year to December 2003, shows that 40% of the public believe the CJS is effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice, against a baseline of 39% in the year ending March 2003. Figures for the year ending March 2004 will be available from the CBS by July 2004.
including increasing that of ethnic minority communities	Latest performance from the BCS for the year to December 2003, indicates that 53% of black and ethnic minority people believe the CJS is effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice, against a baseline of 49% in the year ending March 2003.
increasing year on year the satisfaction of victims	Baseline data for victims to be established by July 2004.
increasing year on year the satisfaction of witnesses	Baseline data for witnesses to be established by July 2004.
respecting the rights of defendants	The rights of defendants are protected by law. Two methods will be used, during the target period, to determine if the rights of defendants continue to be safeguarded: a question in the BCS on people's confidence that the CJS respects the rights of persons accused of committing a crime and that such persons are treated fairly; and monitoring a range of indicators concerned with a person's access to legal advice and other provisions which safeguard defendants' rights.

Objective 2: To ensure a fair and effective system of civil and administrative law
Target 3: Reduce the proportion of disputes which are resolved by resort to the courts
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04 (figures are for year to Dec 03)
Reduce the amount of non-family claims in the civil courts by 11.8%, from April 2003 to March 2006 from a baseline of 1,790k in 2002/03 to 1,580k by March 2006.	1,751k (2.2% improvement)
Reduce the proportion of non-family cases allocated for hearing (once a defence has been filed) that are resolved by a hearing to 47% by March 2006. The baseline in 2002/03 was 48.9%.	43.3%
Reduce non-family hearings by 9.3% from a baseline of 71,300 in 2002/03 to 64,700 by March 2006.	67,900 hearings (4.8% improvement)
For private family law orders made by consent we will increase the proportion of contact and ancilliary relief orders made by consent by 2.8% from a baseline of 70.6% in 2002/03 to 73.4% in March 2006.	70.5%
Target 4: Increase year on year the level of satisfaction of users by taking speedy, high-quality decisions and reducing unnecessary delay and cost, and by ensuring that outcomes are enforced effectively. This target will be met if all the headline targets are achieved and 8 of the 14 supporting targets are achieved.
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
The achievement of year-on-year improvements in four key areas of dissatisfaction from the 2002/03 customer satisfaction survey:	Headline target performance is based on the 2003/04 annual survey which covered all the civil and family courts. This was conducted in three waves.
By March 2006:
(I) 85% of customers satisfied with the knowledge of court staff at public counter	87%
(II) 80% of customers satisfied with the knowledge of staff on telephone service	85%
(III) 60% of customers satisfied with the speed of resolution of complaints	33%
(IV) 80% of customers satisfied with the helpfulness of written communication	79%

Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04 (figures are for year to Dec 03)
Supporting targets:	(Data is for period April to December 2003).
95% of courts or units which apply for the Charter Mark are awarded that status	No applications have been made since April 2003. The Cabinet Office temporarily closed the Charter Mark scheme in January 2003. The scheme is being reviewed to enable it to better reflect theGovernment's principles of public service reform and will reopen in 2004.
85% of complaints answered within the target timescales:
received by Ministers - 17 working days	93%
received at Court Service HQ Customer Service Unit - 15 working days	95%
received by Group Managers - 10 days	54%
received by Court Managers - 5 days	76%
94% of administration transactions completed within 5 days	94%
To increase the percentage of civil cases heard within target from allocation to hearing:
78% small claims heard within 15 weeks	83%
78% fast track cases heard within 30 weeks	80%
78% multi-track cases heard within 50 weeks	73%
Percentage of Public and Private Law Children Act cases and adoption cases dealt with within target by the end of March 2006:
70% public law heard within 40 weeks	39%
70% private law heard within 40 weeks	81%
70% of adoption cases heard within 20 weeks	54%
Realise at least 30 opportunities for county courts and magistrates' courts to share accommodation by April 2006.	four opportunities realised between April and December 2003

Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04 (figures are for year to Dec 03)
The amount of money on enforceable warrants as a percentage of the total value of enforceable warrants will be 80% (2003/04) and 85% (2005/06)	90%
70% of charging orders will be processed in the appropriate timescales:
from application to interim order in 2 weeks;	75%
from interim order to final order in 10 weeks.	64%
70% of third party debt orders will be processed in the appropriate timescales:
from application to interim order in 2 weeks;	74%
from interim order to final order in 10 weeks.	72%
Two further supporting targets are currently under development. They will be in place for 2004/05. One target will be a cost indicator for civil and family business. The other target will be to measure the effectiveness of enforcement through the Attachment of Earnings procedure.
Target 5: Focus the asylum system on those genuinely fleeing persecution by taking speedy, high-quality decisions and reducing significantly unfounded asylum claims, including by: fast turnaround of manifestly unsound cases ensuring by 2004 that 75% of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months; and for 2003/04 that a proportion (to be determined) including final appeal, are decided within six months; and enforcing the immigration laws more effectively by removing a greater proportion of failed asylum seekers. (Joint target with Home Office)
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
Fast turnaround of manifestly unfounded cases. Target will be achieved if, for the year ending March 2006, the time from application to departing the UK is no more than 14 days in 70% of cases.	Data planned to be published by the Home Office in the quartely asylum statistics ⁽¹⁾
75% of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months.	80% of applications received in the period April to September 2003 had initial decisions reached and served within two months.

Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
60% (year ending March 2004) of substantive asylum applications including final appeal are decided within six months.	Latest data indicates that the 60% target level has been achieved for each monthly cohort of cases up to and including August 2003.
Performance on applications through to appeals processed end to end within six months
Enforcing the immigration laws more effectively by removing a greater proportion of failed asylum seekers.	17,040 failed asylum seekers (including dependants) were removed in 2003.

Notes:1. See SR2002 Public Service Agreement technical note, March 2003.

Objective 3: To reduce social exclusion and protect the vulnerable
Target 6: Increase year on year the number of people who receive suitable assistance in priority areas of law involving fundamental rights or social exclusion.
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
Performance will be measured by the triennial National Legal Needs Survey. This target will be met if the number of people receiving suitable assistance in priority areas of law increases from 31 per thousand (baseline) to 34 per thousand by the end of the SR2002 period.	The second National Periodic Survey of Legal Need , against which performance is measured, will be conducted from April to August 2004 and initial results will be available in early 2005.
An indicative annual telephone survey will be conducted to demonstrate movement towards delivery of the target. This needs to show a statistically significant increase in the percentage of problems in priority areas of law receiving suitable assistance each year from 2003 to 2005, over the baseline of 31% (2002/02) survey.	As the National Periodic Survey of Legal Need is only undertaken on a triennial basis, we have also commissioned an annual telephone survey from the Legal Services Research Centre. The findings from the second such survey are encouraging. In relation to all 'concluded' problems, the proportion of successful attempts to obtain suitable assistance had risen from 31.2% to 33.9%; for 'ongoing' problems, the proportion had increased from 26.8% to 39.6%. Future telephone surveys will be monitored closely to observe whether this early upward trend is consolidated.

Objective 4: To modernise the constitution and ensure proper access to information by citizens

No supporting PSA targets.

Objective 5: To increase consumer choice in legal services by improving information and by promoting competition

No supporting PSA targets.

Objective 6: To deliver justice in partnership with the independent judiciary

No supporting PSA targets.

Value for money
Target 7: Increase value for money from the criminal justice system by 3 % per year, increasing efficiency by at least 2 % a year, including the delivery of legal aid. (Contributing to CJS PSA)
Measures	Latest outturn for 2003/04
To increase value for money from the criminal justice system by 3% per annum. This target will be met if, by March 2006, improvements are achieved in value for money which, over the SR2002 period, equate to an average per year of 3% of the £1.9bn (ie £57m pa or £171m for three years) relating to criminal justice spend in the Department's 2002/03 baseline. Increasing efficiency by at least 2% a year, including the delivery of legal aid. This target will be met if, by March 2006, improvements in efficiency are achieved which, across the whole SR2002 period, equate to an average per year of 2% of the Department's total 2002/03 DEL of £3bn (ie £60m pa or £210m for three years).	In-year savings are projected of £27m for very high-cost criminal cases, £1m for general legal aid scope changes and £3m for asylum legal aid changes. These contribute £28m (16%) to the criminal justice system value for money sub-target and £31m (15%) to DCA's efficiency sub-target. The percentages reflect the anticipated lead-in time to the delivery of savings.

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