- Plans to deliver justice reform and enhance UK legal services announced
- New expert panel to drive greater use of English law on international stage
- Crime-cutting courts to be expanded with new site confirmed for Liverpool
The panel will bring together the legal sector’s key players to future proof English law’s eminent international status as part of a drive to enhance UK economic growth.
The panel will spearhead efforts to help reinforce Britain’s position as a global leader in legal services. It will be supported by new research to quantify the global commercial value of English law and demonstrate its economic value.
The UK’s legal services sector is already worth over £42.5 billion to the economy – helping to generate roughly £1,350 every second. The sector also employs 384,000 people across the country.
The Deputy Prime Minister also committed to the expansion of Intensive Supervision Courts – a new crime-cutting initiative based on a similar model used in Texas – that aims to tackle the root causes of criminal behaviour and cut reoffending.
The Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that Liverpool will soon host a second court of this kind focused on female offenders. This will build on four existing courts: Liverpool’s specialist drug rehabilitation court, plus intensive supervision courts in Birmingham, Bristol and Teesside, where over 200 offenders have participated in the pilot.
The courts, supported by the Probation Service, oversee low-level offenders with crimes linked to issues like addiction or trauma. These individuals attend mandated treatment and regularly appear before the same judge, who tracks their progress. Non-compliance with the initiative can lead to sanctions, including time behind bars.
An evaluation of the pilots found that participants with addiction issues returned clean drug tests in approximately two-thirds of cases and were sanctioned for non-compliance in fewer than one in four cases.
These announcements follow a major effort to fix the crisis in the justice system as part of the Plan for Change, so that punishments cut crime and victims get swifter justice.
