The final piece of this chunk of articles on the judiciary and independence focuses on the structure and make-up of the court system itself – how many courts there should be, what practical/structural things we would need to consider to improve access to justice and the different tiers of courts and tribunals.
Sometime early next year, the final set of posts on a Welsh Justice System will look at crime, punishment and rehabilitation.
The court system isn’t devolved and is managed by the UK Government (via the UK Department of Justice) and the independent agency HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
The biggest concern cited by the Thomas Commission was the impact court closures have had on access to justice (Part IX).
27 courts have closed in Wales since 2010, often in rural towns. In some cases (Anglesey) it results in a 90-minute journey on public transport to the nearest court (at Caernarfon).
The Thomas Commission made several recommendations and observations around the accessibility and locality of justice and the court system more generally, including:
- A Wales-specific strategy for physical and digital access to justice.
- A Wales-specific strategy for alternative/out-of-court dispute resolution.
- A presumption against using other non-justice buildings to hold courts temporarily or on a part-time basis.
- Improvements to rural broadband to match the ambition of increased digital justice and distant hearings.
- A replacement for Cardiff Crown Court that’s “fit for a capital city”, as well as urgent improvements to the six justice centres (they didn’t say where) that currently don’t provide adequate disabled access.
- There’s a noticeable “arc from Wrexham to Swansea” where there are no courts.
- Problem-solving and Family Drug & Alcohol Courts should be established in Wales.
- Justice services, including coroners, should be subject to Welsh language standards.
One element of the court system that is devolved to Wales is the Welsh Tribunals, administered by a Welsh Government team and chaired by a President of the Welsh Tribunals. These are tribunals set up to hear administrative cases within devolved policy areas. There are currently six of them:
- Agricultural Land Tribunal.
- Mental Health Review Tribunal.
- Residential Property Tribunal.
- Special Educational Needs Tribunal.
- Adjudication Panel for Wales (a disciplinary tribunal for local councillors).
- Welsh Language Tribunal.
In 2020-211, the Welsh Tribunals heard around 2,000 cases. The vast majority of those (1,790) involved the Mental Health Review Tribunal. The Agricultural Land, Adjudication Panel and Welsh Language tribunals heard just 30 cases combined.
The Cost of Justice
All indications are that the court system – as it currently is – doesn’t cost that much to run in Wales, especially when compared to policing and prisons.
In 2020-21, the allocated budget to the Welsh Tribunals was around £4.2million, with £3.6million of that being spent2. Though the underspend was likely down to changes in practice and a reduction in hearings caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest available figures I could find – which the Thomas Commission figures were based on – revealed that the judiciary’s spending in Wales is around £251million a year3.
That figure includes the cost of courts and tribunals themselves, the devolved tribunals, the public prosecutor, legal aid, criminal compensation and any other spending by the UK Ministry of Justice in Wales.
In isolation, net direct spending on the courts – once income from fees is included – is around £45million a year. That naturally comes with a health warning as it was a pre-pandemic normality figure.
So if Wales wanted to maintain the court service as it currently is – the same number of courts, same levels of legal aid, same public prosecution budget etc. – then the ballpark figure is somewhere between £250-260million a year at 2018 prices.
If we introduced professional district judges to replace magistrates (Part XI), you can probably add another £6million to that.
There would also be a capital cost associated with reopening or building new courts in areas where courts have been closed by the UK Government, court refurbishments, introducing digital technology and bringing old buildings back into use (if they were repurposed as courts).
If we were going to open new courts, then citing the “town centre first” policy of the Welsh Government the preference would be town or city centre locations. These would also need to be easily reachable by as many forms of public transport as possible and meet exemplary disability access levels.
1: President of the Welsh Tribunals (April 2021), Third Annual Report 2020-21, p4. Available at: https://senedd.wales/media/c4hl2q3f/gen-ld14561-e.pdf
2: President of the Welsh Tribunals (April 2021), Third Annual Report 2020-21, p7. Available at: https://senedd.wales/media/c4hl2q3f/gen-ld14561-e.pdf
3: Guto Ifan, Cardiff University, (May 2019). Public Spending on the Justice System in Wales, p21-24. Available at: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1699217/Legal-Economy-report-FINAL.pdf
