Senior President of Tribunals’ Annual Report Published
The Senior President of Tribunals’ Annual Report has just been published and it raises a number of substantial points which we will cover in-depth in an article next week.
In the meantime, here are some of the highlights contained in the report.
£700 million Funding to Reform courts and Tribunals
In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer provided £700 million worth of funding to reform courts and tribunals.
Senior President of Tribunals, Sir Ernest Ryder welcomes the injection of funds stating in the report, “The £700m funding secured in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Statement to reform courts and tribunals is a significant vote of confidence, and particularly pleasing given the wider financial constraints across the public sector. We must make the most of this opportunity: helping those who work inside the justice system to deliver what is best for our users.”
Tribunals are the Workhorses of the Court System
In June 2015 the outstanding caseload in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber stood at 52,991 as opposed to 43,643 in 2014 and 45,043 in 2015. These comparisons highlight the growing pressure on the Immigration and Asylum Chamber and how volatile workloads create fluctuating pressures which can lead to serious problems.
The President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, Judge Michael Clements, stated, “Although we were correctly profiled for the work that we expected to receive from the Home Office, nevertheless unacceptable delays in listing arose in the third quarter of 2015 with obvious impacts on our court users.”
Judge Clements also admitted in the report that, “We still do not, [however], routinely have facilities to record all our hearings. This is a serious deficit which I hope will be resolved as part of the Reform Programme.” He also stated that the quality of video linking equipment, used notably in bail hearings, was not up to standard.
Output of judicial review Cases Increases
Mr Justice (Bernard) McCloskey, President of the Immigration & Asylum Chamber, gave a positive report, stating that the output of the Chamber in judicial review cases outstripped input for the first time since the historic transfer in November 2013.
Given that judicial review cases are likely to continue to increase; this should be welcome news for those waiting to hear their claims decided.
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