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Lord Chancellor's Department
Press Notice
3 August 1998
LORD CHANCELLOR REFORMS LAY MAGISTRATE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, has revised the procedures for
appointing lay magistrates.
"The changes I am introducing, in the form of a Direction to Advisory
Committees, will result in a standard consistent approach throughout
the 94 Advisory Committees in England and Wales," he said. "The new
Directions will modernise the system of appointing lay magistrates
and set out the framework in which my Advisory Committees must
operate."
The Directions incorporate the agreed recommendations of the Home
Affairs Select Committee on Judicial Appointments which reported in
October 1996. The revisions will:
bring the procedures and material supporting the appointment of lay
magistrates into line with those for the professional judiciary;
provide detailed guidance in areas where the previous Directions were
lacking; and
provide guidance in areas which had specifically been
requested by Advisory Committees.
The new Directions introduce:
a clear job description for magistrates;
the six key qualities defining the personal suitability of candidates
for appointment i.e. good character, understanding and communication,
social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgement
and, commitment and reliability;
revised application, reference and undertaking forms; and
new Notes for Guidance.
"In addition, in response to the recommendations made by the Home
Affairs Select Committee on Judicial Appointments and guidance issued
by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, I am ensuring that the
process for appointing chairmen and members of Advisory Committees
and Sub-Committees is now more open," the Lord Chancellor said.
"From now on, vacancies for membership of the Committees will be made
more widely known. In future I shall also require that one-third of
the members of each Committees be lay people."
Step-by-step guidance is also provided on dealing with those cases
where the conduct or competence of a magistrate is called into
question.
The application form and notes for guidance will shortly be placed on
the LCD Internet web site
[http://www.open.gov.uk/lcd/magist/magistfr.htm]. (Update 08/02/08 - This web site no longer exists.)
Notes to Editors
There are currently 94 Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committees and 129
Sub-Committees in England and Wales.
