The lady chief justice made the case for ‘sustainable and long-term funding’ and digitisation of the judicial system at last night’s annual dinner for judges hosted by the lord mayor of London.
Lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood also spoke at the Mansion House event, setting out her decisions in relation to prisons and promising to ‘pursue the hard work of restoring and reforming our justice system’.
Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill said: ‘Concrete steps are needed to help the courts and judiciary secure the rule of law effectively and that includes ensuring that sustainable and long-term funding is made available.
‘We have a judicial system that has almost been taken for granted as the envy of the world. We need digitisation, we need to harness the power of AI in appropriate ways, we need modern flexible courtrooms and IT systems, and experienced staff, in order to maintain its standing.’
She added that the work of modernising and digitising the courts and tribunals would be ‘ongoing projects’.
‘Our justice system must be a justice system supported with the basic necessities for the future. That also calls for the courts and tribunals to be fit places for the judiciary and HMCTS staff to work in. We cannot continue to have judges, as I understand one did, taking it on themselves to climb onto a court roof to clear a gutter that was blocked and causing a leak. It also calls for effective security for judges and HMCTS staff when they are in court.’
The lady chief justice acknowledged the role of solicitors when talking about causes of celebration with ‘more former solicitors in the senior judiciary than ever before, with more than 20% of the Chancery Division being occupied by solicitors’.
The lord chancellor, who asked for indulgence ‘in doing more politics than would be expected tonight’, said: ‘I knew that the situation in our prisons was dire but nothing could have prepared me for the true inheritance left to this government. Our prisons were not just in crisis, they were on the point of collapse, weeks away from running out of space altogether.
‘I took the decision to bring forward the release point for some prisoners serving standard determinate sentences from the usual 50% to 40% spending the remainder on strict licence conditions in the community. Given the disgraceful disorder just a few weeks after we took office, the necessity of that decision was soon apparent. At one point, the prison places remaining in the adult male estate fell into double figures.’
Mahmood gave her ‘deepest thanks for all that you did this summer handing down justice swiftly’ adding: ‘I have no doubt at all that your work brought the disorder to a halt.’
She told attendees that the ‘long-term plan’ included building more prisons and a ‘landmark’ sentencing review led by former lord chancellor David Gauke ‘to ensure we are never again in a position where we have more prisoners than space in our prisons’. The report is expected to deliver recommendations in spring 2025.
Mahmood said she ‘fully recognised’ the challenges faced by the justice system.
She added: ‘Speaking before a budget, my lips are – by necessity – sealed but let me say this; this government will pursue the hard work of restoring and reforming our justice system. We will support you in delivering justice more swiftly, we will promote this country’s standing as a global beacon of the rule of law and we will back our legal sector, which is so vital to this government’s mission to kickstart economic growth.’
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