The Lord Chancellor launched the Supporting
Magistrates to Provide Justice programme (58kb) 
,
at the magistrates' association
AGM in October 2004. This programme involves working with our partners
across the justice system. During November and December 2004, we asked for
your views and the response paper is available below..
Magistrates' court programme vision
Getting your views
Magistrates' Courts and Local Justice conference - 14 March
2005
Contact us
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Connected. Respected. Effective.
Lord Falconer described a vision for the magistrates' courts which aims
for them to be better connected, respected and effective. The programme
will focus on improvements in these key areas:
With over 28,000 magistrates in England and Wales the magistracy represent one of the most significant commitments to volunteering in this country. The government highly values the role of the magistracy and wants to see the role of magistrates better valued by their local communities. Recruitment and retention of lay magistrates remains a priority
We have asked for your views through a questionnaire, focus groups and telephone surveys.
We would like to thank all those who completed our questionnaire. Nearly 2000 questionnaires were returned which represents the input from 2300 magistrates, district judges, magistrates' court staff, local Criminal Justice Boards, witness and victims groups and defence counsel. The deadline for response has now passed, however you can still download the questionnaire [PDF 66 kb] for review.
In addition to the questionnaire we commissioned research which conducted focussed discussions on local justice with members of the general public. Our researchers also conducted detailed telephone interviews with a random selection of magistrates.
The results of our research are now available in the Supporting
Magistrates to Provide Justice response paper
[PDF 504 kb], which was published on 1 April 2005. This report details the
range of ideas which have been put forward during the course of the programme.
Detailed analysis of ideas and suggestions continues.
We hosted a conference in London on the 14 March 2005, at which Criminal Justice System (CJS) ministers outlined the results of the Supporting Magistrates to Provide Justice programme's communications exercise and indicated how this work will be taken forward. Lord Falconer, in his speech thanked the audience of over 500 representatives of the magistracy, local courts and the wider Criminal Justice System from across England and Wales for their contributions and commitment to this programme.
Lord Goldsmith the Attorney General, Home Office minister Hazel Blears MP and the courts minister Chris Leslie MP each addressed key proposals that are in development or being considered following on from the thousands of suggestions put forward.
The other speeches and the question and answer session from the conference are available to download:
Lord Goldsmith QC, Attorney General [PDF 37kb]
Hazel Blears MP [PDF 39kb]
Chris Leslie MP [PDF 45kb]
Lord Justice Thomas, the Senior Presiding Judge [PDF 40kb]
Rachel Lipscomb JP, Magistrates' Association Council Chairman [PDF 18kb]
Alex Allan, Permanent Secretary Department for Constitutional Affairs [PDF 18kb]
Sir Ron De Witt, Chief Executive of Her Majesty's Court Service [PDF 23kb]
Question and answer sessions [PDF 92kb]
If you would like more information please email the Supporting Magistrates to Provide Justice programme.
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