Office of Public Sector Information
PART IV continued
After section 34 of the 1979 Act there shall be inserted—
(1) There shall be established for the purposes of this section a committee consisting of the following members—
(a) the chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate,
(b) six lay justices appointed by the chairmen of the petty sessional divisions of the inner London area, and
(c) six metropolitan stipendiary magistrates appointed by the chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.
(2) The lay justices eligible for appointment under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above include any of the chairmen referred to in that paragraph.
(3) The members of the committee shall hold office for a period of twelve months, but shall be eligible for re-appointment.
(4) The chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate shall be the chairman of the committee.
(5) It shall be the duty of the committee—
(a) to keep under consideration the division of work in the inner London area between the metropolitan stipendiary magistrates and the lay justices, and
(b) to give general directions to any magistrates' courts committee for any area which consists of or includes the whole or any part of the inner London area as to the division of the work.”
(1) Schedule 7 (which re-enacts certain provisions relating to the functions of the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District with respect to pensions etc. of court staff) shall have effect.
(2) The Lord Chancellor may by order make provision with respect to pensions, allowances or gratuities payable to or in respect of inner London court staff, or any class of inner London court staff.
(3) An order under subsection (2) above may—
(a) itself make provision with respect to the pensions, allowances or gratuities which, subject to the fulfilment of such requirements and conditions as may be prescribed by the order, are to be or may be paid to or in respect of inner London court staff, or any class of inner London court staff, or
(b) provide that the civil service provisions are to have effect, with such modifications as may be prescribed by the order, in relation to the payment by such persons as may be so prescribed, out of such funds as may be so prescribed, of pensions, allowances and gratuities to or in respect of inner London court staff, or any class of inner London court staff.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (2) and (3) above, an order under subsection (2)—
(a) may include all or any of the provisions referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 of Schedule 3 to the [1972 c. 11.] Superannuation Act 1972, and
(b) may make different provision as respects different classes of persons and different circumstances.
(5) Paragraphs 1 to 11 of Schedule 3 to the [1972 c. 11.] Superannuation Act 1972 shall have effect, in their application for the purposes of this section, as if references to regulations were references to an order under this section and references to the Secretary of State were references to the Lord Chancellor.
(6) Subsections (3) and (4) of section 7 of the [1971 c. 56.] Superannuation Act 1972 (which relate to increases under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971) shall have effect in relation to an order under subsection (2) above as they have effect in relation to regulations under that section.
(7) The Lord Chancellor may by order repeal or amend any of the relevant enactments, whether or not he makes provision under subsection (2) above.
(8) An order under subsection (2) or (7) above may make such consequential, transitional, incidental or supplemental provision (including provision amending or repealing any provision of this Act, the 1979 Act or any other enactment) as the Lord Chancellor thinks necessary or expedient.
(9) Before making an order under subsection (2) or (7) above the Lord Chancellor shall consult—
(a) the inner London magistrates' courts committee,
(b) such local authorities as appear to him to be concerned,
(c) the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, and
(d) such representatives of other persons likely to be affected by the proposed order as appear to him to be appropriate.
(10) An order under subsection (2) or (7) above shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(11) In this section—
“the civil service provisions” has the meaning given by section 15(1) of the [1967 c. 28.] Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967,
“inner London court staff” means the justices' chief executive employed by the inner London magistrates' courts committee, any justices' clerk for the inner London area and staff of the inner London magistrates' courts committee,
“the inner London magistrates' courts committee” means the magistrates' courts committee for an area consisting of or including the inner London area or, if there is no such committee, every magistrates' courts committee for any area which consists of or includes any part of the inner London area, and
“the relevant enactments” means—
Schedule 7 to this Act, and
section 15 of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967 (superannuation of metropolitan civil staffs) so far as it relates to the persons mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii) of that section.
(1) For sections 55 and 56 of the 1979 Act there shall be substituted—
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the paying authority or authorities in relation to any magistrates' courts committee shall provide the petty sessional court-houses and other accommodation, and the goods and services, proper for the performance of the functions of—
(a) the magistrates for the magistrates' courts committee area,
(b) the magistrates' courts committee,
(c) any other committee of the magistrates for that area, or
(d) the justices' clerks for any part of the magistrates' courts committee area.
(2) Subsection (1) above shall not require the paying authority or authorities to provide any current item or class of current items if the magistrates' courts committee have notified the authority or authorities that they intend to obtain that item or class of items otherwise than from that authority or any of those authorities.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above “current item” means any goods or services which are of such a kind that expenditure incurred by a paying authority on providing them would not be capital expenditure.
(4) Where there is one paying authority in relation to a magistrates' courts committee, that authority shall pay the expenses of the committee.
(5) Where there are two or more paying authorities in relation to a magistrates' courts committee, each of those authorities shall pay a proper proportion of those expenses.
(6) For the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) above the expenses of a magistrates' courts committee shall be taken to include—
(a) expenses incurred by them in obtaining goods and services which are proper for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) above but which by virtue of subsection (2) above the paying authority or authorities are not required to provide;
(b) the sums payable under Part II of this Act on account of a person’s salary or expenses as justices' chief executive or as justices' clerk for any part of the magistrates' courts committee area, the remuneration of any staff employed by the committee and the remuneration of any court security officers employed (whether by the committee or a paying authority) under section 76(2)(a) of the [1991 c. 53.] Criminal Justice Act 1991 in relation to petty sessions areas within the magistrates' courts committee area together with—
(i) secondary Class I contributions payable in respect of any such person, staff or officers under Part I of the [1992 c. 4.] Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and
(ii) state scheme premiums so payable under Chapter III of Part III of the [1993 c. 48.] Pension Schemes Act 1993;
(c) the sums payable under any contract entered into (whether by any such magistrates' courts committee or a paying authority) under section 76(2)(b) of the [1991 c. 53.] Criminal Justice Act 1991; and
(d) so far as they are not otherwise provided for, all other costs incurred, with the general or special authority of the magistrates' courts committee, by the justices for the magistrates' courts committee area.
(7) Nothing in subsection (1), (4) or (5) above shall require any paying authority to incur any expenditure or make any payment which would—
(a) cause the net cost to it in any year of the matters mentioned in subsection (1) of section 59 of this Act to exceed the amount which, in relation to that authority and that year, is for the time being determined by the Lord Chancellor under subsection (3)(b) of that section, or
(b) cause its capital expenditure in any year in pursuance of functions under this Part of this Act to exceed the amount which, in relation to that authority and that year, is for the time being determined by the Lord Chancellor under subsection (4)(b) of that section;
and in determining any such net cost as is mentioned in paragraph (a) above there shall be disregarded any such capital expenditure as is mentioned in paragraph (b) above.
(8) Subject to section 16(2) of this Act, any accommodation provided under this section for any justice, justices' clerk or justices' chief executive may be outside the area for which the justices act and, in the case of a petty sessional court-house, shall be deemed to be in that area for the purposes of the jurisdiction of the justices when acting in the court-house.
(9) Two or more paying authorities may arrange for accommodation, goods or services provided for the purposes of this section by one of them to be used also as if provided for those purposes by the other or each of the others.
(10) In this section—
“paying authority” in relation to a magistrates' courts committee, means any responsible authority whose area comprises all or part of the area to which the committee relates;
“responsible authority” means any unitary authority or any county council so far as they are not a unitary authority; and
“unitary authority” means—
the council of any county so far as they are the council for an area for which there are no district councils,
the council of any district comprised in an area for which there is no county council,
a county borough council,
a London borough council, or
the Common Council of the City of London.
(11) Until 1st April 1996, the definition of “unitary authority” in subsection (10) above shall have effect with the omission of paragraph (c).
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section—
(a) the petty sessional court-houses and other accommodation, goods and services to be provided by the paying authority, or each of the paying authorities, under section 55 of this Act,
(b) the salary to be paid to a justices' clerk or justices' chief executive and to staff of a magistrates' courts committee, and
(c) the nature and amount of the expenses which a magistrates' courts committee may incur in the discharge of any functions or may authorise to be incurred,
shall be such as may from time to time be determined by the magistrates' courts committee after consultation with the paying authority or authorities.
(2) Where the expenses of a magistrates' courts committee (including any sums which are taken by section 55(6) of this Act to be such expenses) fall to be borne by more than one paying authority, any question as to the manner in which they are to be borne by the authorities concerned shall be determined by agreement between those authorities and the magistrates' courts committee concerned or, in default of such agreement, shall be determined by the Lord Chancellor.
(3) Any paying authority which is aggrieved by a determination of a magistrates' courts committee under subsection (1) above may, within one month from the receipt by the authority of written notice of the determination, appeal to the Lord Chancellor, whose decision shall be binding upon the magistrates' courts committee and any authority concerned.
(4) The approval of the Lord Chancellor shall be required for any determination under subsection (1) above reducing the salary of a justices' clerk or justices' chief executive, unless the justices' clerk or justices' chief executive concerned consents to the reduction.
(5) In this section “paying authority” has the same meaning as in section 55 of this Act.”
(2) Section 57 of the 1979 Act (application of sections 55 and 56 to outer London areas and City of London) and section 58 of that Act (arrangements for inner London area corresponding to those under section 55 of that Act) shall cease to have effect.
After section 59 of the 1979 Act there shall be inserted—
(1) Where after the commencement of this section a responsible authority appropriate any land owned by them to magistrates' courts purposes, the authority shall be taken for the purposes of section 59(2) of this Act to incur, in the year in which the appropriation is made, capital expenditure in pursuance of their functions under this Part of this Act of an amount equal to the open market value of the land at the time of the appropriation.
(2) In subsection (1) above—
“land” includes any interest in land,
“magistrates' courts purposes” means the purposes of being provided under section 55(1) of this Act as a petty sessional court-house or other accommodation, and
“responsible authority” has the same meaning as in section 55 of this Act.”
After section 62 of the 1979 Act there shall be inserted—
(1) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations made by statutory instrument require magistrates' courts committees—
(a) to keep prescribed accounts and prescribed records in relation to those accounts, and
(b) to cause any such accounts to be audited in accordance with the regulations.
(2) In subsection (1) above “prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations.”
(1) The Lord Chancellor may appoint such number of inspectors of the magistrates' courts service (to be known collectively as “Her Majesty’s Magistrates' Courts Service Inspectorate”) as he may consider appropriate.
(2) The Lord Chancellor shall appoint one of the persons so appointed to be Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Magistrates' Courts Service.
(3) It shall be the duty of inspectors of the magistrates' courts service—
(a) to inspect and report to the Lord Chancellor on the organisation and administration of magistrates' courts for each magistrates' courts committee area, and
(b) to discharge such other functions in connection with the organisation and administration of magistrates' courts as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time direct.
(4) Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Magistrates' Courts Service shall make an annual report to the Lord Chancellor as to the discharge of the functions of the Inspectorate and the Lord Chancellor shall, within one month of receiving the report, lay a copy of it before each House of Parliament.
(5) The Lord Chancellor shall make to or in respect of inspectors of the magistrates' courts service such payments by way of remuneration, allowances or otherwise as he may with the approval of the Treasury determine.
(6) Any person appointed by the Lord Chancellor before the commencement of this section as an inspector of the magistrates' courts service, or as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Magistrates' Courts Service, shall be taken to have been appointed under this section.
(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, an inspector of the magistrates' courts service exercising his functions under section 86 above shall have at all reasonable times—
(a) a right of entry to any court-house or other premises occupied by a magistrates' courts committee, and
(b) a right to inspect, and take copies of, any records kept by a magistrates' courts committee, and any other documents containing information relating to the administration of the magistrates' courts for their area, which he considers relevant to the discharge of his functions.
(2) Subsection (1) above does not entitle an inspector—
(a) to be present when a magistrates' court is hearing proceedings in private, or
(b) to attend any private deliberations of the justices of the peace.
(3) The records referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above include records kept by means of a computer; and an inspector exercising the power to inspect records conferred by that subsection—
(a) shall be entitled at any reasonable time to have access to, and inspect and check the operation of, any computer and associated apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with the records in question, and
(b) may require—
(i) the person by whom or on whose behalf the computer is or has been so used, or
(ii) any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the computer, apparatus or material,
to afford him such reasonable assistance as he may require.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may make an order under subsection (3) below if he is of the opinion that, without reasonable excuse, a magistrates' courts committee—
(a) are failing properly to discharge any duty imposed on them by or under any enactment, or
(b) have so failed and are likely to do so again.
(2) Before making an order under subsection (3) below, the Lord Chancellor shall give a written warning to the magistrates' courts committee specifying the default or defaults to which the order relates.
(3) An order under this subsection shall—
(a) state that the Lord Chancellor is of the opinion mentioned in subsection (1) above, and
(b) provide either or both of the following—
(i) that, on the making of the order, the chairman of the committee is to vacate his office as chairman, or
(ii) that, on the making of the order, one or more specified members of the committee (who may include the chairman but may not consist of all the members of the committee) are to vacate their office.
(4) If, after making an order under subsection (3) above, the Lord Chancellor remains of the opinion mentioned in subsection (1) above, he may make an order—
(a) stating that he remains of that opinion, and
(b) providing—
(i) that all the members of the committee are to vacate their office on the making of the order, and
(ii) that for a specified period, not exceeding three months, beginning with the making of the order the committee is to consist of persons nominated by the Lord Chancellor (who need not be justices of the peace).
(5) An order under subsection (4) above shall provide for new members of the committee to be chosen, in accordance with regulations under section 21 of the 1979 Act, to take office at the end of the specified period.
(6) In relation to the magistrates' courts committee for an area which consists of or includes the whole or any part of the inner London area, the reference in subsection (3)(b)(ii) above to members of the committee does not include the chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate; and where an order under subsection (4) above is made in relation to any such committee, subsections (3) and (4) of section 20 of the 1979 Act (under which the chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate and other stipendiary magistrates are members of the committee) shall not have effect in relation to the committee during the period specified in the order.
(1) The Audit Commission may, at the request of a magistrates' courts committee, undertake or promote comparative and other studies—
(a) designed to enable the Commission to make recommendations for improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of the committee’s functions, and
(b) for improving the financial or other management of the committee.
(2) Any magistrates' courts committee which has requested a study in accordance with subsection (1) above, and any officer or member of such a committee, shall provide the Audit Commission, or any person authorised by it, with such information as it or he may reasonably require for the carrying out of the study.
(3) The Audit Commission shall charge the magistrates' courts committee concerned such fees for any study carried out under subsection (1) above as will cover the full cost of carrying it out.
(4) In this section “the Audit Commission” means the Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service in England and Wales.
After section 69 of the 1979 Act there shall be inserted—
A statutory instrument containing (whether alone or with other provisions) regulations made by virtue of section 12, 21, 24C, 24D(2), 25(2) or 62A of this Act shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.”
(1) Schedule 8 to this Act (which makes minor and consequential amendments relating to magistrates' courts) shall have effect.
(2) The repeal of subsections (1), (2) and (4) of section 27 of the 1979 Act does not affect any justices' clerks in relation to whom section 26A(1) of the 1979 Act does not have effect.
(3) The repeal of sections 36 and 36A of the 1979 Act does not affect the division of the inner London area into petty sessional divisions as existing immediately before the commencement of the repeal or the names of those petty sessional divisions.
(1) In this Part of this Act “the 1979 Act” means the [1979 c. 55.] Justices of the Peace Act 1979.
(2) Expressions used in this Part of this Act and in the 1979 Act have the same meaning in this Part as in that Act.
Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994