The Organisation of the Judiciary
IV The Directorate of Judicial Offices for England and Wales (DJO)
- The Director
- The Judicial Personnel and HR Team
- The Strategy, Planning and Governance Team
- The Jurisdictional and Private Office teams
- Head of the Judicial Communications Office
- The Tribunals
45. The Directorate Comprises:
- The Judicial Office
- The Judicial Studies Board
- The Judicial Communications Office
The basic function of the Directorate is to ensure that the Lord Chief Justice, the Judicial Executive Board, the Judges’ Council and the judges exercising the functions set out in part III are supported in their responsibilities, kept fully advised and informed, their activities coordinated and policy is developed and implemented.
46. The Judicial Office ensures that, where necessary, written delegations of authority are in place and maintains a central record of decisions taken under delegated authority. It is head by the Director.
47. The Directorate is headed by the Director:
- provides strategic leadership for the Judicial Office and ensures the Judicial Executive Board is properly supported and the work of the judges with the responsibilities listed in parts II is co-ordinated;
- provides a high level link to the Executive Branch of Government, in particular the Department of Constitutional Affairs, Her Majesty’s Court Service and the Home Office.
- has a broad strategic role in providing advice and an interface on policy issues and in ensuring that decisions of the Judicial Executive Board are taken forward.
- responsible for the budgets of the Judicial Office, the Judicial Communications Office and the Judicial Studies Board
- The Executive Director of the Judicial Studies Board and the Head of the Judicial Communications Office reports to the Director; the Head of the Office of Judicial Complaints reports on a joint basis.
48. The Judicial Office is split into three teams: the Judicial HR team, the Planning and Governance team and the Jurisdictional and Private Office teams, each headed by a team leader. The teams work very closely together, but their broad responsibilities are set out below.
49. The Judicial Personnel and HR Team provides support and advice to the judges responsible for the following issues:
- deployment, including the work of the Vice-President of the Queen’s Bench Division and the President of the Family Division
- judicial personnel issues
- mentoring, career development and diversity
- liaison with the Judicial Studies Board
- liaison with the Senior Salaries Review Board and with the MoJ on judicial terms of service, pay etc
- criticisms in judgments
- liaison with the Office for Judicial Complaints
- judicial appointments
- magistrates’ issues
- authorisations for judicial work
- handling new initiatives, such as the recommendations arising from the Judicial Resources Review, identifying resource needs as required
- maintenance of the judicial database
- holding and controlling access to the personal files of the judges.
50. The Strategy, Planning and Governance Team is responsible for the following issues:
- helping to develop strategic planning and support to the Judicial Executive Board and its Committees
- producing spending bids, plans and budgets for the Judicial Office and monitoring performance during the year
- overseeing relations with the MoJ, ensuring that all undertakings in the Judicial Office Memorandum of Understanding are being met and dealing with breaches and amendments as necessary
- international relations
- providing a central support to the rest of the Judicial Office in HR functions, IT, accommodation, filing and general correspondence.
51. Support is provided to the Judges’ Council by its Secretary and an assistant, independently of the team, but managed by the team leader.
52. The Jurisdictional and Private Office teams work closely together to ensure that the Lord Chief Justice, Heads of Division and other senior judges are supported in all other areas.
- The Jurisdictional teams are organised as follows:
- Criminal
- Civil
- Family
- They provide support to the sub-committees of the Judicial Executive Board, help the judges to produce responses on new policy initiatives and consider the impact of new legislation on the courts and the judiciary.
- The Family and Civil Teams work closely with the Civil Justice Council and Family Justice Council (non Departmental Bodies).
- The jurisdictional teams include private secretary, legal secretary and administrative assistance to the Heads of Division and the Senior Presiding Judge.
- The Private Office of the Lord Chief Justice supports the Lord Chief Justice as Head of the Judiciary and calls upon the expertise of the head of the jurisdictional teams when the Lord Chief Justice is dealing with the particular jurisdiction in question.
53. Head of the Judicial Communications Office is responsible for internal and external communications, including the maintenance of a website and intranet and the publication of the judicial newsletter.
54. The Tribunals: The office of the Senior President is supported principally by the Tribunals Service, but Judicial Office provides other support as necessary and to the extent funds are provided.