Policy for Custody Time Limit Applications

The request was refused by Judicial Office for England and Wales.

Dear Judicial Office for England and Wales,

I write with reference to the recent controversy regarding the order from the Senior Presiding Judge that HHJ Raynor be debarred from hearing a custody time limit application in a case (P and Others) in the Crown Court at Woolwich. You will be aware that in that case the SPJ ordered that any CTL application be heard by a High Court Judge.

I write to invite disclosure of the policy which lead to this decision. How does the SPJ decide which judges should hear CTL applications. What are the criteria for deployment of members of the High Court bench to hear such applications in trials for which a member of the circuit bench is nominated trial judge?

Yours faithfully,

Robert Levack

Disclosure Team, Judicial Office for England and Wales

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LondonKILO, Judicial Office for England and Wales

1 Attachment

Dear Robert,

 

Please see the attached acknowledgment to your request (our reference
201024008).

 

Regards

 

Knowledge and Information Officer
Knowledge and Information Liaison Unit | London Regional Support Unit |
3^rd Floor | First Avenue House | 42-49 High Holborn | London | WC1V 6NP |
DX160010 Kingsway 7

Web: [1]www.gov.uk/hmcts

 

Unless a higher marking is specified please treat this email as: OFFICIAL

 

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Judicial Private Offices FOI,

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Dear Mr Levack,

 

Please find attached a response to your recent request which was handled
under the FOIA.

Best wishes,
Judicial Office

 

Judicial Office

Royal Courts of Justice

[1]www.judiciary.uk

 

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Dear Judicial Office for England and Wales,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Judicial Office for England and Wales's handling of my FOI request 'Policy for Custody Time Limit Applications'.

Thank you for responding promptly to my request by letter dated 10 November 2020.

I note in your response you assert that:

' The Judicial Office may or may not hold information related to the request, but such information would not be within scope of the FOIA because it would only be held on behalf of the judiciary.
The judiciary of England and Wales is not a public body for the purposes of the FOIA as it is not listed under Schedule 1 of the act. As a result of this, any information held on behalf of the judiciary, is not be eligible for release under the FOIA.'

Schedule 1, Paragraph 1 provides that 'any government department' is a public authority, save for those specifically excluded paras 1(a) and (b).

The Judicial Office is an office within the Ministry of Justice, which I would submit is unarguably a government department within the meaning of the relevant paragraph. The paragraph provides specific exemptions to the definition of public authority; information held on behalf of the judiciary is not one of those exempt groups. Please provide authority for your assertion that the Judicial Office is outwith the scope of the Act.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

Yours faithfully,

Robert Levack

Judicial Private Offices FOI,

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Judicial Private Offices FOI,

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