News

14 July 2010

Criminal Justice Joint Inspection Plan 2010-12

The CJS Inspectorates agreed a joint inspection plan in April 2010 for the year ahead, following earlier consultation with a range of interested parties. It is subject to review in the light of developments that may arise during the course of the year. The Plan can be found here.

The report on the joint inspection of the Military Court Service has been published today (11 June 2010).

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, along with the Legal Services Commission carried out an inspection of the end to end administrative military court process and court centre facilities. Inspectors looked at key business processes for court hearings, including contracted Probation Services and the administration of legal aid to service personnel. The Military Court Service is well on its way to becoming a successful tri-Service organisation, with a strong, proactive leadership; a dedicated, customer focused staff; excellent facilities in new court centres, a responsive approach to legal aid and good arrangements for pre-sentence reports. However, as a relatively new organisation, the Military Court Service still has room for improvement and we made several recommendations to improve strategy and planning processes, performance management, governance, communication, and consistency in the quality of pre-sentence reports.

Joint Inspection of the Military Court Service

New Acting Chief Inspector appointed

Following Eddie Bloomfield's appointment to the Office of the Accountant General, David Abbott has been appointed as Acting HM Chief Inspector of Court Administration. David was previously one of 2 Deputy Chief Inspectors. David took up his new role on 26 March 2010.

Abolition of HMICA 

On 7 December HM Government published Putting the Frontline First: smarter government, a programme of actions to deliver a smarter, more responsive and more streamlined government.

The document stated that "Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) fulfil a valuable purpose, and in most cases their arm’s-length relationship with government strengthens their ability to deliver services that are highly effective and impartial, and represent good value for money. Nevertheless it is right for the Government to consider whether some bodies could be reformed to achieve improvements in service delivery and greater value for money through rationalisation.

The actions we will take to achieve these include: Actions: rationalising and reforming arm’s-length bodies - We will, as a first step, rationalise the ALB landscape, reducing the overall number of bodies by over 120, through:

...abolishing HM Inspectorate of Court Administration"

No decision has been taken yet about when HMICA will be abolished.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) report on the inspection of Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria HMCS Area

HMICA’s inspection of the way HMCS handles criminal and family cases and how it makes effective use of partnership working to improve services for users has been published today (Monday 18 January 2010).

Overall, this is an Area which is strongly led, and, in the main, engages effectively with stakeholders to deliver many high quality services.  However, there are two areas for improvement.  Our findings reinforced ongoing concerns highlighted in previous inspections about poor levels of performance in respect of the timeliness and accuracy of recording judicial decisions in magistrates courts.  We also found an absence of a proactive and systematic approach to ensuring that key developments, initiatives and processes were evaluated.

11 November 2009

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) post inspection review of the Coroners Service for Northern Ireland (CSNI)

HMICA’s post inspection review of the Coroners Service for Northern Ireland (CSNI) has been published today (Wednesday 11 November).

This follow-up review carried out on behalf of Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) assessed the progress made by the CSNI to implement recommendations made following our initial inspection in 2007.

This review shows that management and staff within the CSNI took on board the recommendations made by Inspectors to improve their organisation, and have worked to deliver significant improvement especially in relation to how the service engages with bereaved families.

Press release (PDF 64Kb)
A follow-up review of the administrative systems supporting bereaved families provided by the Coroners Service for Northern Ireland (PDF 894Kb)


27 October 2009

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) report on the Inspection of Criminal Case Administration and Resulting in Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS)

This thematic inspection examined the way in which HMCS handles criminal cases that pass through the magistrates’ courts and Crown Court. Recent HMICA inspections have identified problems relating to the robustness of the HMCS administrative systems that ensure judicial decisions are recorded and disseminated in a timely and accurate manner. Accordingly, we decided that our first pilot thematic inspection, using our revised inspection methodology and framework, should look at criminal case administration and particularly at the way in which judicial decisions at court hearings are recorded and passed on to other criminal justice agencies, who need accurate and timely information.

The findings of this inspection have added weight to our concerns. In particular, HMCS performance data over the last 12 months shows that between 15% and 20 % of cases in the magistrates’ courts were not resulted on time. An equally serious issue concerns the inaccurate recording of some case results.

Inspection by HMICA of Criminal Case Administration and Resulting in Her Majesty’s Courts Service - March - June 2009 [PDF: 0.66mb]

Joint inspection

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, along with the Legal Services Commission will carry out a joint inspection in the Military Courts Service. They will be looking at Key Business Areas, Pre-Trial Processes, Listing And Case Progression, Processes For Young Defendants, Witness Handling Processes, Contracted Probation Services, The Administration of Legal Aid for Service Personnel and Court Procedures And Processes On The Day.

Inspectors will visit the military courts and associated offices in the weeks commencing 5 and 12 October 2009 and returning in the weeks commencing 9 and 16 November 2009, but we would like to gain the views of court users before and during that period.

If you have any relevant comments to share with us please contact:

Julie Toaduff or Diane Brooks 
HMICA, 
2nd Floor, Carlton Tower, 
34 St Pauls Street
Leeds LS1 2QB
Email
Tel: 0113 394 3900

We may use your comments in our report, but we will not identify you as a source.

The inspection findings will be published in March 2010, in the form of a Report and a further Press Release to local media. If you would like a copy please let us know.

15 July 2009

Press release - HM Inspectorate of Court Administration Annual Report 2008 - 2009 published (PDF 28Kb)

Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria Area Inspection

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) will carry out an inspection of the key business processes relating to the administration and resulting of criminal and family cases and the use of partnership working to improve services for users in the Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria HMCS area.   Inspectors will visit the areas courts and associated offices in the weeks commencing 6th July and 13th July 2009 and returning in the weeks commencing 24th August and 31st August 2009, but we would like to gain the views of criminal and family court users before and during that period.   If you have any relevant comments to share with us please contact:

Diane Brooks 
HMICA, 
2nd Floor, Carlton Tower, 
34 St Pauls Street
Leeds LS1 2QB
Email
Tel:  0113 394 3904.

We may use your comments in our report, but we will not identify you as a source. The inspection findings will be published in January 2010, in the form of a Report and a further Press Release to local media. If you would like a copy please let us know.

Business Plans published

The business plans for HMICA and the Joint Criminal Justice Inspectorates' have been published.

Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Pilot Inspection 2009

A pilot inspection of Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Courts Area has been published today (10 June 2009).

Victim and witness experiences in the criminal justice system.

A joint thematic review, conducted by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HM CPSI), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and HM Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) has been published.