Under-resourced

Speaking at the annual luncheon of the Institute of Legal Executives, Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, predicted that people would be denied justice if the Government did not provide more money to run the courts. He said: ‘I am very concerned that what has been achieved in regard to civil justice and what has yet to be achieved by criminal justice is going to founder on the rock of lack of resources, unless it is recognised that they are essential … When the procedural reforms that bear my name were launched three years ago, the judges decided not to wait for the necessary information technology. But IT needs resources. I’m afraid that if those resources are not provided, what has been achieved will be squandered’.