Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 12 Rhagfyr 1973.
My hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Shersby) and my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Crowder) have raised the important issue of the status and salary of court clerks. I appreciate what they Have said about the importance of this position in magistrates' courts, but I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge slightly exaggerated. I think that the figure for cases tried in magistrates' courts as opposed to higher courts is not 998 out of 1,000 but 98 out of 100.
I am aware of the overall problem, and particularly the problem of vacancies among positions for court clerks in the magistrates' court at Uxbridge, which has heavy lists and which has had to change and curtail sittings because of this shortage.
The term "court clerk" is a description of a function and not of a grade of individual. It defines those who do the important job of regularly advising magistrates on the law, taking a note of the proceedings, recording the decision of the court and generally supervising its running. I do not think any of us doubts that the efficient running of a magistrates' court depends to a large degree on the efficiency of its court clerks.
When we talk of court clerks we refer to the justices' clerk, the deputy justices' clerk and the justices' clerks' assistants who sit and act in the court as clerk of the court. Each petty sessional division has its own justices' clerk, although an individual clerk may be responsible for more than one petty sessional division.
Earlier this year, outside the inner London area there were 275 full-time justices' clerks and 152 part-time justices' clerks, all of whom qualified under the provisions of Section 20 of the Justices of the Peace Act 1949, the qualifications being that they should be either barristers or solicitors, or should have had not less than 10 years' experience sitting as clerks prior to 1st January 1960.
In practice, the vast majority of justices' clerks are solicitors. Almost all the part-time justices' clerks are solicitors in private practice. They are appointed by the magistrates' court committee, which also fixes their salary. They have a joint negotiating committee for the fixing of salaries, which are related to those of senior officers of local authorities and to the population of the area the court serves. As I understand it, there are enough qualified justices' clerks available.
In addition to the justices' clerk himself these are the people referred to by my hon. Friend. In each of the larger petty sessional divisions, with the additional volume and complexity of the work they have to do, most of them are responsible for several courts at the same time. It is therefore necessary to have not only the justices' clerks' assistants but clerks of the individual courts affected, either as deputy justices' clerks or taken from the ranks of the justices' clerks themselves. The degree of responsibility varies greatly from place to place in which they may sit.
The size of the establishment of staff in any petty sessional division is decided by the magistrates' court committee, which is also responsible for the grading of the justices' clerk's assistants. Sitting in the magistrates' courts today, as well as the justices' clerks there are about 254 deputy justices' clerks and about 350 justices' clerks' assistants who act as court clerks. They must be looked upon in relation to the total staff of the magistrates' courts, which is about 4,000. In view of what my hon. Friend has said, I make it clear that no single petty sessional division has complained direct to the Home Office that it has been unable to staff its courts.
Having said that, I nevertheless realise that Uxbridge has been in difficulty and has written to the Lord Chancellor about it. I realise that in several other areas there is difficulty in recruiting adequate suitable staff, and that concern has been expressed, as my hon. Friend has said, at the fact that many legally qualified assistants are leaving to go into private practice. The justices' clerk's assistant, sitting as a court clerk, needs no professional legal qualification, as such. Some are solicitors, some are barristers, some are articled to the justices' clerk, and some are reading for the Bar.
I fully realise the force of what my hon. Friend has said about the necessary and appropriate desire to have a higher proportion of qualified people sitting as court clerks. Originally a justices' clerks' assistant acquired his knowledge by practical experience in day-to-day work. Some years ago the National Association of Justices' Clerks' Assistants, together with the Justices' Clerks Society, set up a diploma course in magisterial law. In 1968 the Home Office set up a training committee comprising representatives of all the various bodies concerned to formulate advice on training.
It was agreed from the outset that the primary need was to provide specialised training for the assistant called upon to act as a court clerk. Accordingly, a training course was set up for them, first—in 1968—at Manchester Polytechnic and subsequently, and in addition, at Bristol. These two courses provide, in all, about 50 places a year. The course lasts for a total of three years. Each year the students spend six weeks in residential training, which they have to supplement by home study. The syllabus for these courses is designed to combine instruction in the law—with special emphasis on criminal law—with practical training. As the polytechnics are of university standard a high standard is achieved, and discussions are going on about the possibility of successful completion of the examination at the end of the course providing exemption from some subjects of the common entrance examination to both branches of the legal profession, now being considered by the Cross Committee.
I fully accept what my hon. Friend said about the importance of training and of courses of this nature in providing adequate status for those who wish to become clerks in our magistrates' courts. I assure my hon. Friend that it is the ultimate intention to use the power of the Justices of the Peace Act 1968 to prescribe that assistants acting as court clerks shall have completed an approved course on the lines of those now being operated by the polytechnics, unless they are in other ways qualified, by being already barristers or solicitors or people with long experience. It would obviously not be practical to do this and to prescribe the powers until a sufficient number of court clerks have been trained to meet the various needs.
I cannot say when that time will come, but I understand that the National Association of Justices' Clerks' Assistants raised this matter at a recent meeting. It was agreed with the Home Office that further consideration of these proposals should be deferred until the new year, when there will be further time to consider them. It is hoped that the prescription of qualifications will be accomplished over the next few years.
My hon. Friend also mentioned salaries. I appreciate that, as in all other walks of life, the salary scale is important. Salary scales for all justices' clerks' assistants are negotiated by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Justices' Clerks' Assistants, which consists of representatives of the magistrates' courts committees, the empolyers—the local authorities, which are the paying bodies—and the National Association of Justices' Clerks' Assistants. The Home Office is not represented on the committee and consequently does not and cannot take any initiative in questions relating to salaries.
The last assistants' salary round was negotiated in October last year, when they received an increase, operative from 1st July 1973, within the prevailing limits of the Government's counter-inflationary policy of £1 plus 4 per cent. I understand that the salary scales agreed at that negotiation committee for justices' clerks' assistants relate to various clerical and executive grades in local authority service.
I realise that, as with other public services, there are special difficulties in recruitment, especially in the London area. One way of assisting recruitment may be to award an increase in the London weighting allowance, which is allowed within the terms of stage 3. At present it is based on the allowance paid in the local authority field. The National and Local Government Officers' Association is negotiating for an increase in the London allowance. If an increase is granted, a corresponding increase could be negotiated for justices' clerks' assistants.
I agree with my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Ruislip-North-wood (Mr. Crowder) that recruitment is of importance. Justices' clerks' assistants are appointed by the magistrates' courts committee concerned. They are under the direct control of the individual justices' clerk to whom they are assigned, and recruiting is conducted locally. It has not hitherto been thought necessary to undertake special recruitment measures. Nevertheless, activities on the lines suggested by my hon. and learned Friend—approach to school leavers and assistance from the Home Office—could be extended if there is a demand by magistrates' courts committees for assistance, as has been suggested to the Middlesex Magistrates' Courts Committee during consultations following concern about the position in Uxbridge.
I hope that we can look at this question from a wider viewpoint, if that is demanded. I have no doubt of the importance of the justices' clerks' assistant. Competent clerks of courts are a necessary part of the English legal system. We must not forget the training that they obtain through experience. Nevertheless, like my hon. Friend, I should like to see a higher status for these court clerks brought about by the provision of training on a more central basis.