Who is
the Commissioner? Why
was he appointed? John Simpson was appointed Commissioner for Judicial Appointments for Northern Ireland in December 2001. He is independent of the judicial system and government. The appointment is part-time. The Commissioner can be contacted at: Office of the
Commissioner Tel: 028 9072 8930
The Commissioners office is a discrete business area, independent of the Court Service, and currently staffed by Audrey Fowler, Sonya Priestly, Deborah Kirk and Rachel McBride.
The Agreement reached in Belfast on Good Friday 1998 provided for 'a wide-ranging review of criminal justice (other than policing and emergency legislation)'. As a result a Review Group was set up to examine the existing criminal justice system and to bring forward proposals for future criminal justice arrangements. The Review Group's terms of reference included, amongst others: "The arrangements for making appointments to the judiciary and magistracy, and safeguards for protecting their independence." The Report of the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland was published in March 2000. The Review Group recommended the appointment of a Commissioner to oversee and monitor the fairness of all aspects of the existing appointments system until such time as it is possible to establish a Judicial Appointments Commission. This overseeing role was largely based on the recommendations of Sir Leonard Peach in his report on the Independent Scrutiny of the Appointment Processes of Judges and Queen's Counsel in England & Wales but tailored to meet the specific circumstances in Northern Ireland. The Government published an Implementation Plan on 12 November 2001 detailing its response to each recommendation. The Commissioner is appointed for a term of five years, from 12 December 2001 to 11 December 2006. However, the appointment is subject to review at the point when, as anticipated, the Government establishes a Judicial Appointments Commission in Northern Ireland.
The Lord Chancellor has asked the Commissioner to:
The Commissioner has no role in making appointments to the
judiciary or Queen’s Counsel. Please contact the Judicial Appointments
Unit (Northern Ireland Court Service) if you are looking for information
about how to apply for appointment.
Judicial Appointments Complaints Procedure The Commissioner published an
information leaflet on the Complaints Procedure for Judicial Appointments
in March 2003. This leaflet which summarises the Complaints
Procedure can be downloaded by clicking here or may be obtained by contacting
the Commissioner's Office at the above address. The Commissioner published an Audit Report on judicial appointments and appointments to Queen's Counsel on Monday 18 August 2003. While the Audit Report provides detailed information gathered during the Commissioner's first year in office, the audit review of actual appointment schemes covers an 18 month period up to December 2002. A full list of the one hundred plus recommendations can be found in the Executive Summary. The full Audit Report can be downloaded by clicking here.
The Commissioner published his First Annual Report (2002/2003) on Thursday 2 October 2003. The Report recounts and reviews steps taken during the Commissioner's year in office and also focuses sharply on the likely nature of future changes and developments in the judicial system. The full Annual Report for 2002/2003 can be downloaded by clicking here.
The Report focused on the development of the key issues identified in the Audit Report 2003. Many of the recommendations in that Report have been accepted and implemented. However, a large number have been the subject of further discussion to take account of the response from the NICtS and this dialogue is outlined in this Annual Report. The full Annual Report for 2003/2004 can be downloaded by clicking here. Since publication of the Audit Report in 2003, the following schemes have been individually audited. Reports setting out the Commissioner’s observations of each of these competitions have been sent to the Lord Chancellor. · County Court Judge 2002/03 · Resident Magistrate 2002/03 · High Court Judge 2003 · Lay Members of the Mental Health Review Tribunal 2003 · Legal Members of the Mental Health Review Tribunal 2003 · Part-time Chairman of the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunals 2003/04
· High Court Judge 2004 (February)
· High Court Master (Family Division) 2004
There are also ongoing audits in respect of the schemes below: · Lay Magistrates 2003/04 · County Court Judge 2004 · Resident Magistrate 2004/05 · President of the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunals 2004/05 · Part-Time Resident Magistrate 2005 The Commissioner also has an ongoing role to monitor progress on the recommendations in the Audit Report. Research Report The Commissioner published a Research Report entitled ‘Applications by Women for Silk and Judicial Office in In the Commissioner’s Audit Report, published in 2003, there was a recommendation that research should be commissioned on the ‘factors which affect the decisions of barristers and solicitors, and in particular women, on whether to apply for judicial appointments’ [paragraph 5.5.16]. A similar recommendation to research why more women were not applying for Silk was also included [paragraph 9.10.9]. In May 2004 Dermot Feenan, from the
The full Research Report can be downloaded by
clicking here.
The Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland |
