Law Society reaction to Justice Minister Damian Green's announcement on October 11th that 'dozens of flexible court pilots that will speed up cases and help modernise criminal justice services'. The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that there will be 48 Flexible CJS pilots across England and Wales.
Law Society President Lucy Scott-Moncrieff said: “The Law Society is highly sceptical that any of the suggested benefits of the flexible courts pilot will be realised. We have already shared our concerns with the government that this initiative will be an expensive way of making the Magistrates' courts less efficient, at a time when they are experiencing decreasing workloads, and all criminal justice agencies are struggling with budgetary cuts.
“The number of criminal cases is already declining, with many courts under-used during the working week, so it is hard to see how opening courts for seven days a week rather than five can improve the justice system. It will certainly make the administration of justice much more expensive, with courts having to be staffed, and prisoners transported, at the weekend. District judges, magistrates and defence and prosecution lawyers will also need to cover every day, which will add cost. The proposals will fall particularly hard on the small firms in which most defence solicitors work. They do not have the same flexible options to offer their staff as large employers, such as the CPS and the Court Service and will be forced to ask their staff to work overtime, which will cost them money they can ill afford. There has been no adequate consultation and discussion with defence solicitors about the proposals, which suggests that, yet again, the government is ignoring the only people in the system who see cases through from start to finish, and without whom there could be no effective justice system.
“The government should be looking at ways of making the system more efficient, not spending our money on this wasteful headline-grabbing initiative."
Notes to editors:
Media contact: Catherine Reed, The Law Society
Phone: +44 (0)20 7320 5902