Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In addition to new rules on judicial appointments (see other blog entry) the Crime and Courts Bill 2012 will, when enacted, deliver other changes to the court system. These include:

• Allowing broadcasting from courtrooms
• Increasing the efficiency of fines by providing incentives for compliance, so offenders bear the cost for delaying payment, not taxpayers
• Creating a Single County Court system and a Single Family Court for England and Wales to allow greater flexibility for the handling of cases
• Allowing data to be shared between the courts, tribunals service and other agencies so fee exemption applications can be checked electronically.

While these may seem somewhat minor issues given the challenges currently facing the government, these changes should make some improvements in how courts function, and thus from this perspective are to be broadly welcomed.