Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In the summer 2018, the House of Commons Justice Committee announced that it would start an inquiry into the work of the Law Commission. To date it has received oral and written evidence from the Law Commission.

The evidence shows that over the last 8 years, the core funding for the work of the Commission has been cut by over 50%.

To make up the short-fall, the Commission has been undertaking a number of projects funded by Government Departments, which fall outside the programme of Law Reform which the Commission had itself determined and agreed with the Government.

In oral evidence, the then Chair, Sir David Bean made the point that, while funded projects were important, it could mean that other important projects would have to be dropped or postponed, because they did not fit the political priorities of the day.

The final outcome of the inquiry is currently awaited.

The written and oral evidence is available at https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/justice-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/work-of-the-law-commission-17-19/publications/