The names of judges removed from office following disciplinary proceedings will no longer be kept secret, justice secretary Jack Straw (pictured) announced last week.

Launching the second annual report of the Office of Judicial Complaints (OJC), he said there would now be a presumption that identities and reasons for removal would be made public. However, decisions on disclosure would be made case by case, he said.

The office received 1,437 complaints about judicial office holders from April 2007 to March 2008, down on the 1,674 received during the previous year. Of those, 61% related to judicial decisions and were outside the scope of the OJC.

Disciplinary action was taken in 49 cases. Since April 2007, 19 magistrates and two tribunal office holders have been removed from office, three for committing criminal offences, 15 for not fulfilling judicial duty, one for inappropriate behaviour, one for misuse of judicial office and one for motoring offences.