I. Stephanie Boyce FKC, FRSA: “Delays in courts, and poor court infrastructure, with little or no access to justice, there was no significant announcement on justice”

Yesterday, the government unveiled its legislative agenda for the coming parliamentary session in the King’s Speech. Some 39 bills and draft bills have been tabled. Not every bill read out will make it into law, but it gives us an idea of the government’s thinking.

Surprisingly or not, given the challenges within our prisons, delays in courts, and poor court infrastructure, with little or no access to justice, there was no significant announcement on justice. While there was plenty about enacting legislation, some sort of announcement on investment to reassure the public and those working within the justice system that access to justice remains at the forefront of the government’s agenda would have been welcomed.

The government has set out measures intended to improve the criminal justice system, strengthening the criminal justice system’s response to violence against women and girls, knife crime, etc., but there is still some distance to travel if the government is to fulfil its promise to ‘always put the country first’. To focus on big issues based upon “security, fairness, and opportunity for all.”

The “patient rebuilding” that will “fix the foundations” of Britain must include the entire ecosystem, which must include the justice system, and must include investment.
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