On 23 June 2015, the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice announced his intention to work with the judiciary to reform the courts in England and Wales. The stated aim of the reform is to create a modern and efficient justice system which takes into account developments in technology. This process has […]

JUSTICE responded to the Ministry of Justice consultation on introducing further fees in the courts and tribunals. Chief amongst our concerns are: a 10% uplift on all court fees in civil proceedings other than those already increased above cost; an increase to the maximum fees payable in civil claims, from £10,000 to at least £20,000 […]

JUSTICE and the Public Law Project (“PLP”) prepared a joint response to the Government’s recent consultation on the compulsory disclosure of financial information by claimants for judicial review and applicants for costs protection, pursuant to the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. This consultation concerns the approach to rules of court that may be made […]

JUSTICE welcomes the decision to reform and modernise the public service ombudsman system, which we have been advocating for over three decades. Our influential report of 1961, The Citizen and the Administration, was credited as leading to the creation of the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. Only a few years later, in 1969, in […]

JUSTICE, together with other UK and European NGOs, supports the initiative of the Council of Europe, under the Belgian Chairmanship, to promote measures for the more effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 26 February 2015, JUSTICE signed a joint statement in response to the draft Brussels Declaration on the ‘Implementation of […]

JUSTICE joined a group of prominent UK and international NGOs in writing to the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee (“ISC”), to indicate that we would not be participating in their inquiry on the treatment of detainees alleged to have been tortured. While we are concerned that these allegations must be properly investigated – […]

The UK Government commenced a review of the balance of competences in July 2012 and will run until the end of 2014. It seeks to audit what the EU does and how it affects the UK. Over four semesters it has sought evidence on 32 areas of competence, questioning what advantages and disadvantages they bring […]

JUSTICE – together with a number of other NGOs – has written to the Foreign Secretary to ask how the Government can justify passing the responsibility for the inquiry into the treatment of detainees – formerly under the supervision of Sir Peter Gibson – to the Intelligence and Security Committee (“ISC”). Read the joint NGO […]

In November 2013, the Home Secretary asked David Anderson QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation to conduct an independent review of the operation of the Government’s practice on deportations with assurances (DWA). While the most high profile of these cases involved the return of Abu Qatada to Jordan, the Government has increasingly sought to […]

The Intelligence and Security Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the legal framework which governs interception of communications by the security agencies and the balance which is struck between privacy and security in that legislation. Triggered by the Snowden revelations, the inquiry issued a call for evidence which closed on 7 February 2014. In […]