This is the first time a Minister from the new Department for Constitutional Affairs has attended a CCMCC AGM, though I am sure LCD predecessors have had many a warm reception at this august body! We in the new Department are clear in our purpose to deliver a fair, efficient and focused service that guarantees justice for all. We unashamedly are seeking to bring a reaffirmed emphasis on a system tailored around those who use the courts, rather than those who run the courts. After all, the needs of the end user, the public, are absolutely paramount.
With these needs in mind, we as a new Department have been working in many areas to achieve an administration of justice that guarantees justice for all those who use the courts. One of these areas is the fairness and balance of the Bench. I will talk more later about how we are trying to achieve more representative and balanced Benches, but we are also seeking to modernise the system of selection for the Bench itself.
However, last week Lord Falconer and I announced to Parliament the end of the political affiliation and partisan balance in Bench selection criteria. Party Political balance is no longer regarded as an indicator of social balance, and there is no reason why the selection of Magistrates should follow this outdated convention. In this area, guidelines will now only seek to explore potential Magistrates' fitness to serve in terms of whether they have the necessary time to give to the Bench.
In terms of the administration of the courts, as you know, we are in the midst of a significant period of major change. The Effective Trial Management and LIBRA programmes are being increasingly successfully implemented, making the running of your courts easier and more efficient for you, and more importantly delivering a better service for those who use the courts. On top of this, we are only five months away from the launch of shadow running for the new Unified Administration, with full launch of the agency in April 2005.
You will be spending much of this morning and afternoon discussing in more detail the key issues that I'd like to go in to more detail now. To talk in broad terms, I'd like to address three key drivers for the Magistrates Courts in the coming year. First, the necessity to take down the administrative barriers that obstruct good performance. Secondly, to make the governance and composition of our courts reflect and represent our local communities. Thirdly, the necessity to continue improving performance through the next year, assuring the positive legacy of MCCs.
Speaking as I am to what may be the penultimate AGM of CCMCC, I do not need to impress on you the scale of the change programme we have undertaken. As you are probably aware, my officials continue to work with Duncan Webster on the financial aspects of the wind up of the representative body on the first of April 2005. We are working to preserve funding arrangements for the representative bodies, and to finalise the arrangements in the run up to Unified Administration.
It would not be surprising if stresses and strains emerge under the challenge of change. But in my visits to your courts in the time since I have been in office, time and time again I have been very impressed by the diligence, commitment and drive of you and your staff. There is no question that you head a dedicated workforce in which we can be exceptionally proud.
But it is a workforce achieving the administration of justice in spite of the administrative and technological barriers that you face. It is about time that we together step up our efforts to sweep away these barriers, and deliver a justice system that fully achieves the immense potential that exists.
Let me start with the means to break down these administrative barriers, more specifically the Unified Courts Administration Programme. The new agency now has a structure that will join together all the Magistrates Courts on a more formal basis, but also bring together the work of the Crown, County and Magistrates Courts under one umbrella. The national structure will offer benefits both in terms of economies of scale and spreading best practice.
The Unified Courts agency will enable us to deliver a better service to court users. By joining up administration, we will, over time, be able to cut down on needlessly duplicated paperwork, improve communications between all those involved in the administration of justice, and be more reactive to the needs of victims, witnesses and defendants.
We will also be able to make better use of our resources, for instance in the rationalisation of estates. The co-location - on a case-by case basis - of county courts with magistrates courts where appropriate will increase access to and preserve the numbers of courthouses, especially in rural areas.
So where are we in terms of the new agency?
Structure; we have made our final decisions regarding the high level structure of the new agency, centred around the seven regions and forty-two local areas, with the Courts Boards sitting above the local areas tier.
Senior management selection; there have been a heartening number of applications for the local chief officer and regional director posts. We will announce the Chief Executive Designate in the New Year.
Flexibility is crucial in the shadow year - as not all JCEs will apply or be successful for the Local Chief Officers, therefore different ways of accomplishing transition in different areas will be necessary.
To make this flexible transition happen, we will be undertaking a person-by-person review for each incoming Local Chief Officer and outgoing Justices Chief Executive to bring about a hopefully smoother transition of personnel for each area.
We will endeavour to redeploy and retain as a first option for anyone not wishing to apply or not successful in their application to the new agency.
Clearly, MCCs will have a pivotal role in supporting JCEs and engaging with Local Chief Officers in order to bring about this smooth transition. The professionalism and commitment of MCCs in this continuing task, despite the major changes, is a credit to the public service ethos that exists throughout magistrates' courts up and down the land.
As existing institutions come to an end, they will be superseded by new bodies that will both build on the strength of the current organisations, and offer further advantages for those who work and use the courts.
The new Courts Boards will exemplify the strengths of the new agency. They will be locally driven, and will help make the new agency more accountable to the community it serves. Board members will help Local Chief Officers to ensure the effective administration of justice, which will be locally driven by members of the magistracy, and wider community as well as the judiciary.
In September we published our consultation paper on how the new Courts Boards will work.
The level of interest the Magistrates' Courts community have already shown in the paper is encouraging. We look forward to hearing the views of many more of you over the remaining seven weeks.
Just as the Courts Boards seek to involve the local community and court users in the management of the courts, so our National Recruitment Strategy seeks to ensure that the Magistracy reflects more accurately the community it serves.
The strength and performance of, and confidence in the lay magistracy is one of the great strengths of our courts system. It is vital to its continuing legitimacy that it reflects the wide variety of our cosmopolitan communities.
We will do this through a reinvigorated National Recruitment Strategy, which will consolidate best recruitment practice on a national scale. It will, for example, extend the reach of initiatives currently undertaken by local Advisory Committees, who have done sterling work to target under-represented groups.
MCCs need to be able to demonstrate that as well as complying with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act they do everything possible to promote race equality, challenge discrimination and learn from the best practice identified.
The Magistrates' Court Inspectorate report examining MCCs' reaction to the Act made 15 recommendations to affirm our common commitment to race equality throughout the service. This has to be underpinned by strong leadership in MCCs up and down the whole of the country.
As a result, race equality will now be a regular part of the Magistrates' Court Inspectorate framework for every MCC and the Department will be following up implementation of all recommendations.
We are keen to ensure that progress continues to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system, including that of ethnic minorities.
An important lever for the formation of the Unified Courts Administration is the harmonisation of diversity policies, practices and procedures, work is currently ongoing to develop a training strategy, which would ensure a consistent approach on race and diversity training across MCCs.
I am therefore looking to you as leaders of these institutions for your sustained support to these issues, particularly in assisting and supporting the Race Equality schemes we have before us.
In addition to the reform programmes, we must build on our good performance by setting trends that will carry across the next year of transition. I'd like to focus on three ways for delivering this - by standardising the programmes of Magistrates Training, tackling fine enforcement and collection, and making sure that pay and recruitment policies stay on an even keel.
The area of magistrates training is one that we have been giving close attention to as part of the transition process. We are working on developing and strengthening the role of the Judicial Studies Board to take into account the advantages we can gain of having a nationally administered training body.
In conducting this investigation, we are looking to create a body that:
Maintains continuity and will build on the hard work and good practice already achieved and developed by Justices' Clerks, training managers, legal advisers and magistrates
We want a system that is coherent, pulling together the current disparate training provision for magistrates into one whole that avoids duplication of effort and realises the benefits of economies of scale.
We want a system that is consistent in terms of priorities and standards of delivery across England and Wales
We want a system that is flexible and can respond to local issues and needs and support the individual trainer.
The proposals for the new structure will be developed in consultation with magistrates, Justices' Clerks, legal advisers and others who work in the magistrates' courts service.
We must work together constructively to set and meet targets throughout the shadow year, and in the first months of the new agency. There are few bigger challenges for us all than the ongoing drive to improve fine enforcement and collection rates.
As you know, effective fine enforcement is key to building a justice system in which the public can have confidence. Victims, defendants, witnesses and any of those otherwise coming into contact with the Criminal Justice System must have confidence that the courts' rulings will be effectively enforced.
The seven point action plan I published in June is now being implemented. There are promising early signs of increased payment rates, with indicative figures showing a rate of 62% for August as compared to last year's figure of 55%.
There remains much to do though - while the amount of fines imposed rose 10% between 2001/02 and 2002/03, the amount collected only rose by 3.6%.
At the centre of this drive to continue improving performance are the measures laid out in the Courts Bill , especially the new statutory framework. Although performance in selected MCCs is and remains good, we must raise standards across the board, if we are to create an atmosphere of an agency successful on a national scale.
Under the fines collection scheme, Magistrates' courts will be able to refer sentenced cases to a fines officer who will be responsible for managing the collection and enforcement of fines on behalf of the court.
These 'fines officers' will have discretion to vary payment terms, but only on application by the offender (who will be expected to provide supporting evidence); and will be able to impose sanctions of increasing severity on defaulters who refuse to co-operate, without further reference to the court.
Where an offender defaults, a financial increase can be applied. A defaulter can avoid the increase by agreeing and keeping to a new schedule of payment. If there were no further default the increase could be rescinded.
But if the offender then defaults on new payment terms, or makes no contact with the Fines Officer, the increase would stand and the fines officer could move to further sanctions including ordering the clamping of a vehicle registering the fine along with civil debt judgments; authorising bailiffs to seize the offenders goods; ordering deductions from the offender's pay or benefits; or issuing a summons for the defaulter to be brought back before the court. The sanctions are aimed at those who appear to refuse to pay, not at those who clearly cannot pay.
The system is designed to encourage payment, with strong incentives for offenders to stay in touch with the court during the 'lifetime' of the fine, making it easier for the court to trace them, and deal with them, should they default. The new regime will be severe on those who have the means and will not pay, or who attempt to play the system.
The legislation provides for piloting the new system so that the best package of arrangements can be introduced nationally in the light of experience. The pilots will take place following Royal Assent, with implementation throughout England and Wales as soon as practicable thereafter.
Enforcement offers us an opportunity to positively raise performance through this period of change. In managing an effective transition to Unified Administration, our joint aim must also be to both provide a strong platform for the new agency, and continue good performance within MCCs.
I am genuinely keen to offer you support and guidance to help meet these quite challenging objectives. You will have already seen my officials' guidance on the appointment of JCEs and changes in the terms and conditions of service. I hope you agree that it is important to keep the courts functioning at an 'even keel', without any financial anomalies that would make the transition difficult.
This is why the guidance specifies a need to avoid carrying any liability through to UA, and also to provide risk assessments and business cases to justify any extra remuneration or changes in conditions of service.
In order to maintain a consistent approach, any individual issues must be referred to the Transitional Management Group This, I believe, will offer us the strong springboard from which to launch the new agency.
I've talked a lot today about the challenges that face us all in the upcoming year. I'm well aware that it's very easy to talk about challenges, and much more difficult to bring about practical ways of tackling them. I am confident, though, that as a corporate body we possess the ideas, drive and resources to make this change happen, and to reap, I hope, maximum benefits from it.
We are undertaking reform for a specific purpose, with identified benefits for both those who work in and use the courts. As I have tried to emphasise today, however, we cannot achieve this reform without active and positive participation of yourselves and all those who work in the system.
The next stage of the Unified Administration Programme depends on close co-operation between the new Local Chief Officers with existing MCCs. It is essential that we set up avenues of good dialogue and flexible working between them.
We must ensure that we use the resources at our disposal in the most effective manner possible, and take a co-operative approach to this period of transition. We must all place positive communication at the centre of what we do, which is why meetings such as today are exceptionally important to how we approach the future.
Thank you.