MAGISTRATES: ESTABLISHED 1361// BEST BEFORE 2023

I have remarked in the past about the press and PR department at the Ministry of Justice.  Its output volume in my opinion varies inversely with the quality of the progress being attempted in resurrecting what was once upon a time more than the fairy tale justice department it now is; when news, information and outcomes were true, sincere and to to be considered a great benefit of a society in which we were lucky to live.  Along with many other attributes and qualities of leadership there really was a spark, a light, which allowed Britain to be considered "great".  It wasn`t military or empire; it was we the people and our antecedents over the last century who inherited and nourished to the best of each of our abilities a desire to be our best for our families and for each other. It generally included, with some few exceptions, those we elected to power on all the levels from parish to Downing Street.  There was corruption and malevolence of course but it was recognised, faced down and life went on but not anymore.  The output from government departments was generally informative and consequently trusted by those to whom it was directed:  not anymore.  In May 2023 a Freedom of Information request was made to  the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):

"Utilisation rates averaged 64% across the magistrates courts in 2010. Courtroom

utilisation is the time a courtroom is used, against the hours that a courtroom is

available for use. The Government's aim that year was to increase utilisation of

courtroom time to at least 80%. What is the current utilisation rate?"

That request was refused on the grounds that 

"The Magistrates’ Courts are undergoing a transition to a new data and information system called Common Platform. Each court has a system (either legacy, or Common Platform when transitioned) for viewing the availability of its rooms and reserving them. There are some measures available centrally to show the total number of available court rooms, but at present the detailed records of actual use needed to calculate the utilisation rate sought are not available.

However according to Nick Goodwin CEO of HMCTS in his recent blog:- "Last year, with thanks to HMCTS colleagues, judges and justice partners,  we sat over 100,000 days in the Crown Court and in March 2023 we sat the most days in a single month (10,033) since July 2015. Our internal management information (MI) shows that productivity - sitting days per working days - increased in the second half of the last financial year, to average rates not seen since 2015/16, with November 2022 (443) the highest since November 2016. These are incredible achievements – particularly when you consider the operational volatility of the last 12 months – and I’m very grateful to everyone who has contributed to it."

The reality of court efficiency is indicated by today`s published figures of courts actually in use.  

Humpty Dumpty, that well known wall sitting English egg, is famous for his saying, "words mean what I want them to mean."  Now the government watchword could be stated as,  "we won`t collect statistics that are not of benefit to us".  In similar fashion the MOJ has tied itself up from head to foot in the sacred "D" word Diversity.  Like the RAF where we discovered last week that white would be pilots were refused training contracts on the basis that members  within the D ethnic groups were given preference the MOJ does similar but manages to keep all that information secret about the selection of new magistrates. Those interested in criminal law can hardly have missed the publicity over the last year or so where MOJ advertised at a budget of £1 million for 4,000 new magistrates.  This in itself was a self inflicted wound.  The statistics were crystal clear in 2010.  Thousands of JPs were due to retire over the next decade and beyond.  No attempt was made to replace them on the basis that since the then new government was intending (in private) to close half the magistrates courts JPs` numbers could be allowed to to wither on the JP vine.  The result is that there are now less than half the number cf 2010.  Hence the urgency to recruit in a similar fashion to the desperation to return police numbers  to the 147K in 2010 since more than 20K were lost similarly.  The result of the scramble for JPs is a humiliation for the MOJ. Latest figures show that 1,204 were appointed of whom 147 or 15% were considered "ethnic minority".  A FOI request last year asked inter alia, how many of new appointments of BAME identification considered themselves Muslim on application?  This was refused as was an appeal against that decision....."The response to the original request confirmed the information requested is not held. This is because the local Advisory Committees of Justices of the Peace (ACJP) are separate public authorities for purposes of the FOIA".  Perhaps an investigative journalist would be able with the means available to fish out this information which is likely to be somewhere in the bowels of Petty France.  If diversity is so important there can be no limit to the public knowing absolutely if eg born again Christians, Muslim extremists, Buddhists and others resolutely opposed to imprisonment are being appointed by incompetent Advisory Committees  in their rush for a magical ratio to suit their diversity prejudices.  

There are pressure groups trying to push such an agenda. "Transform Justice" began life a decade ago to do what it said on the tin.  Certainly much change was and is needed but it seems the gallop to a world where if Diversity is not attained all manner of tribulation will descend upon us, is becoming its watchword as Climate Change has become for many. The first couple of paragraphs in its current blog describing its latest initiative, appear to complain of the extent to which applicants to the magistracy must jump through many inquisitorial hoops to prove they are suitable for the post. To actually praise for once the MOJ the application process on line is a model of thoroughness and does seem to offer applicants the initial testing to consider if the position is worth pursuing.   The writer, herself a short serving former magistrate,  seems to be trying to justify positive discrimination in the selection process.  Positive discrimination is unlawful in the UK but positive action isn’t. What this means is that employers [JPs are not considered in law as employees but are treated by HMCTS as if they are unpaid employees] can choose to select candidates from under-represented groups as long as they are as qualified for the role as other applicants. Organisations are not allowed to recruit a person purely on the basis of his or her age, disability, gender, race or religion, regardless of their ability to do the job. This would be committing discrimination under the Equality Act. It is also unlawful to set quotas to recruit or promote a specific number of people with a protected characteristic.  It is highly likely that the RAF broke the law in its pilots` selection process referred to above. 

My post of 25th April 2023 concluded as follows, "It might be intolerable to many but the facts on the ground lead to magistrates being recruited from those financially able to  to bear the burden of volunteering.  With the loss of thousands of experienced old hands in the last decade it is, in my opinion, that the intellectual, self assertive and  independent  qualities which made the magistracy such a fine unique feature of the English justice system  are gone forever.  The result is that the day when Justices of the Peace are led out to pasture is just that little bit closer now than when I retired in 2015." 

I have no reason to change that opinion.  Indeed recent events have no doubt increased the pressure within the MOJ and from many legal practitioners, notwithstanding the judicial yes men who must hold their peace until retirement, that a lay magistracy no longer gives value for money {cf  salaried civil servants AKA District Judges (MC) if they would function without a clerk}  nor holds the public`s confidence.  I now must agree that the magistracy is not fit for purpose.  England and the legal establishment should come clean with the English public that the days of relying on unpaid volunteers to administer 93% of court cases belong to a bygone age.  Perhaps the top of magistrates` coffin should read "ESTABLISHED 1361 BEST BEFORE 2023"