| United Kingdom Ministry of Justice |
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|---|---|
| Emblem of the Ministry of Justice | |
| Ministerial Department overview | |
| Formed | 2007 |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom, England and Wales in respect of certain devolved matters |
| Headquarters | 102 Petty France Westminster, London, SW1H 9AJ |
| Employees | over 77,000 |
| Annual budget | £8.2 billion & £400 million in 2011-12 [1] |
| Minister responsible | The Rt Hon. Kenneth Clarke, MP, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor |
| Ministerial Department executive | Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery |
| Child agencies | Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service National Offender Management Service Office of the Public Guardian The National Archives |
| Website | |
| www.justice.gov.uk | |
| United Kingdom | |
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| This article is part of the series: Courts of England and Wales |
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Administration
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Criminal courts
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Criminal prosecution
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Legal profession
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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public. His department is also responsible for some areas of constitutional policy (those which were not transferred in 2010 to the Deputy Prime Minister). Priorities for the department are to reduce re-offending and protect the public, to provide access to justice, to increase confidence in the justice system, and uphold people’s civil liberties.[2] The Secretary of State is the government minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system and prisons and probation.
The ministry was formed when some functions of the Home Secretary were combined with the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The latter replaced the Lord Chancellor's Department in 2003.
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The ministry handles relations between the three devolved administrations (the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government) and the UK government. It has responsibiltiy for securing the administration of some tribunals in the whole of the UK, such as the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. It is also responsible for civil liberties, freedom of information, data sharing and protection, law reform, and burial policy across the UK. The head of the department is both Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, and some functions, such as national security criminal justice issues and EU and international justice policy, come from the former role, but certain Royal, Church, peerage, and election functions arise from the minister's role as Lord Chancellor.
The Ministry does not have responsibility for devolved criminal justice policy, courts, prisons or probation matters in either Scotland or Northern Ireland, only in England and Wales. In the jurisdiction of England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for dealing with all suspected offenders from the time they are arrested, until convicted offenders are released from prison.[3]
Other responsibilities limited to England and Wales include court administration, land registration, records management, legal aid and legal services, administrative justice, devolved tribunals, the judiciary of England and Wales, public guardianship and incapacity, restricted offenders detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, civil law and justice, the family justice system, the investigation of deaths and coroners law.
The Ministry of Justice has certain responsibilities in relation to the Crown dependencies. These include acting as the main line of communication between Whitehall and the governments of the islands (similar to the role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in relation to the British Overseas Territories), agreeing royal assent to legislation passed by the insular legislative assemblies, extending UK legislation to the islands, and making Crown appointments within the islands.[4]
The Ministers in the Ministry of Justice are as follows:[5]
| Minister | Rank | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP | Secretary of State Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain |
Overall responsibility, criminal justice & penal policy strategy, EU & international matters | |
| The Rt Hon Lord McNally | Minister of State | Civil liberties, Freedom of Information, data protection, Crown Dependencies, HM Land Registry, National Archives, Law Commission | |
| The Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP | Minister of State | Criminal justice strategy | |
| Crispin Blunt MP | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Prisons, probation, youth justice | |
| Jonathan Djanogly MP | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State | Legal aid, HM Courts Service, civil law, family law, coroners and burials | |
| Key | Conservative | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat |
Lord McNally is also Deputy Leader of the House of Lords. Nick Herbert works between the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. [6]
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice is Sir Suma Chakrabarti KCB, who is by virtue of his office working to the Lord Chancellor also Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
The Ministry outlined its aims for the next Parliament in the Structural Reform Plan[7], which said the department will:
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