Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of increasing reliance on district judges, what role they envisage for lay magistrates.

Lord Keen of Elie

We are committed to giving magistrates the strongest possible role in a more proportionate courts system, now and in the future.

Magistrates and District Judges bring different but valuable skills to our justice system. We are working with magistrates to review their role to make sure that the justice system is making full use of their skills, and that they are dealing with more of the crimes that affect and matter most to their communities.