6.1

While Judicial Group's main function is to support the Lord Chancellor in making or recommending appointments and in the development and execution of judicial appointments policy, this chapter gives details of the other responsibilities of the Group.

6.2

Last year's Annual Report mentioned the retirement of Michael Huebner as Director General on 1 September 2000. He was succeeded on 2 January 2001 by Jenny Williams, who transferred to the Lord Chancellor's Department on loan from the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, following the completion of a loan to the Inland Revenue as Director, Business Tax Policy. The Director General of Judicial Group occupies a key position in the Lord Chancellor's Department, responsible for developing and carrying forward policies on the appointment procedures for judicial office holders, and for their terms and conditions of service, all within a framework which upholds judicial independence. Jenny Williams is assisted in her work by nearly 150 staff. Further details on the staffing and resources of Judicial Group is in Annex D. During the period following Michael Huebner's retirement until Jenny Williams took up her post, the Director of Judicial Group, Liz Grimsey, acted as Director General.

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Complaints handling

6.3

The principle of judicial independence, which is central to this country's constitutional

arrangements, means that it is not open to the Lord Chancellor or his Department to consider complaints about judicial decisions. Any recourse from a judicial decision properly lies through the courts or tribunals themselves. However, the Lord Chancellor does consider complaints about the personal conduct of members of the judiciary. He expects the highest standards of behaviour from all levels of the judiciary and ensures that a full investigation is made into any allegation that these standards have not been met.

6.4

The Lord Chancellor's statutory powers are limited to the dismissal of judicial office holders, below the level of the High Court Bench, generally on the grounds of misbehaviour and incapacity and these are accordingly exercisable only in extreme cases. There have been no instances in 2000/2001 where it has been necessary for the Lord Chancellor to exercise these powers when considering complaints. But, as Head of the judiciary, the Lord Chancellor is able to guide, counsel, advise or rebuke with a view to ensuring that judges uphold the standards of conduct which the public and he expects of them.

6.5

The Lord Chancellor takes a close personal interest in the handling of complaints, particularly those alleging racial or sexual discrimination. He also sees all serious complaints, most notably those alleging racial or sexual discrimination; and those which have attracted, or appear likely to attract, publicity. In addition he sees all cases in which there is a record of similar complaints from several different sources about the conduct of a particular judge. He always replies personally to complaints in these categories and to those received from Peers and Members of Parliament or the Assembly or Parliament Members in the devolved administrations.

6.6

Officials in the Judicial Correspondence Unit acting on behalf of the Lord Chancellor will generally draw the complaint to the attention of the member of the Judiciary concerned and give him or her an opportunity to comment. However, the Lord Chancellor does not simply relay the judge's response back to the complainant. Instead he is committed to giving proper consideration to the judge's recollection of events and to the complainant's perception of what happened before coming to a conclusion based on the weight of evidence before him. Where necessary, therefore, officials will call for transcripts or other additional information and present this for consideration. The complainant receives a full reply and a copy is sent to the judge.

6.7

The Judicial Correspondence Unit was set up by the Lord Chancellor in 1998 with specific responsibility for complaints handling. The Unit aims to deliver a high quality service and was enlarged in May 2000 to meet the demand for an increasingly rigorous style of investigation.

6.8

Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2001 the Lord Chancellor received a total of 2,332 complaints about members of the judiciary, the majority of which related to judicial decisions. Of the remainder 463 were taken forward for investigation as they related to personal conduct. 122 cases were outstanding at the end of the year. Out of the 341 completed cases there were eight in which the Lord Chancellor saw fit to take further action. This took the form either of a letter from the Lord Chancellor or, at his instigation, of a meeting between the Judge and the relevant Presiding Judge (paragraph 3.13). In a further case, the Lord Chancellor decided not to re-appoint a Deputy District Judge for a final possible year.

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Judicial Salaries

6.9

Revised judicial salary levels were introduced with effect from 1 April 2001, following the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body (an independent body which makes recommendations to the Government about the salaries of a number of groups including the judiciary) in its latest Report published in February. The salaries for some of the main judicial offices are:

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Judicial Pensions

6.10

On appointment, all full-time holders of judicial office automatically become members of the judicial pension scheme. However, membership is not compulsory and a judicial office holder may opt out of the scheme.

6.11

Judicial office holders appointed before 31 March 1995 became members of one of the schemes established under the Judicial Pensions Act 1981. All members of the judiciary initially appointed to judicial office on or after 31 March 1995 are members of the scheme established under the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993.

6.12

Staff within Judicial Group deal with any enquires from those members of the judiciary who sit in courts and tribunals administered by the Lord Chancellor's Department, about the administration of the judicial pension schemes, or their own personal position. When pension benefits become payable, on the retirement or death in service of a judicial office holder, the pension award is calculated and the necessary arrangements are made for payment.

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Retirements

6.13

60 judicial office-holders within the administrative ambit of the Lord Chancellor's Department ceased to hold office during the period 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001. Of that number four were the result of the death in service of Circuit Judges and one of the death in service of a Regional Immigration Adjudicator. There were also eight medical retirements, one High Court Judge, three Circuit Judges, two District Judges, one District Judge of the Principal Registry of the Family Division and one District Judge (Magistrates' Courts). The remaining 47 retirements were either at the request of the judicial office-holder or because he or she had reached his or her compulsory retirement date. These retirements were:

1 Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

6 Lords Justices of Appeal

8 High Court Judges

1 Common Serjeant of London

1 Specialist Circuit Judge - Patents

27 Circuit Judges

6 District Judges

1 District Judge of the Principal Registry of the Family Division

2 District Judges (Magistrates' Courts) (formerly known as Stipendiary Magistrates)

2 Supreme Court Masters

1 Vice-President Immigration Appeals Tribunal

1 Regional Immigration Adjudicator

1 Immigration Adjudicator

1 Special Commissioner of Income Tax

1 Vice-President VAT & Duties Tribunals

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Terms and Conditions

6.14

It has been the Department's aim to harmonise, wherever possible and appropriate, the conditions of appointment and terms of service for all levels of the judiciary. On appointment judicial office holders are given details of conditions and terms, but the format and wording of these varies from one office to another. Newly appointed High Court Judges, Circuit Judges, District Judges, District Judges (Magistrates' Courts), Masters and Registrars of the Supreme Court, Assistant Judge Advocates General, and (since October 2000) full-time members of the judiciary in tribunals administered by the Lord Chancellor's Department are issued with Memoranda that are a comprehensive compendium of the conditions of appointment and terms of service. In addition to the Memorandum for tribunal members, new, revised and updated editions of the Memoranda were published in October 2000, including for the first time the Memorandum for District Judges (Magistrates' Courts) (which superseded the Memorandum for Stipendiary Magistrates). In line with the Department's aim, the new editions of the Memoranda align judicial terms and conditions wherever possible and appropriate.

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Records Management

6.15

Judicial Division 5 supports other Divisions in the running of competitions by managing both manual files and electronic records. Manual files are used predominantly as a repository for all the information collated in connection with an individual's application, whereas the electronic database is used to track the progress of an application through the various stages. At the end of March 2001, there were approximately 20,000 paper files and 20,200 electronic records.

6.16

In addition to the day-to-day creation and provision of such records, the Division is also responsible for the policy issues surrounding the preservation of the records, in line with guidelines issued by the Public Record Office. The system is also used to assist in the recording and tracking of complaint cases.

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Information and communication via the Internet

6.17

The Judges and QCs section of the Lord Chancellor's Department website contains comprehensive information about appointments procedures, details of current competitions, the latest statistics on the numbers of judges including breakdowns by gender and ethnic origin, judicial salary scales and pensions information. In addition the full text of this and the other two Annual Reports is available as well as Sir Leonard Peach's report. The Magistrates section also contains detailed information about the work of magistrates and the appointments procedure, together with recent reports such as the Report of the Equality Working Group (paragraph 5.15). Work continues on plans to provide guidance on the website about making complaints about the conduct of judges. More information about this will be included next year.

6.18

During 2000/2001 more use was made of the website for providing information and application forms for competitions. For example, 177 (39%) of the 456 applications for Queen's Counsel 2001 were submitted on forms downloaded from the website as were 137 (25%) of the 540 Recorder application forms for the 2001/2002 competition.

6.19

The Central Office of Information (COI) has undertaken a review of the application packs, guidance notes and application forms for each competition to ensure a consistent approach and to raise the level of presentation. As part of that review COI will be developing a web-based application form which will be used by the majority of competitions. It is also hoped that applicants will be able to submit their forms on-line too.

6.20

Each member of Judicial Group has access to external e-mail facilities and each section in the Group has a dedicated e-mail address to which enquiries and requests for information can be made. These addresses, together with telephone numbers and other contact details, are given in Annex I.