Ford committed to delivering speedier justice

2.24.00pm GMT Wed 30th Jun 2010

Justice Minister David Ford

Justice Minister David Ford has today reaffirmed his commitment to tackling avoidable delay and speeding up the justice system.

The Minister was responding to the publication of the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland follow-up report on avoidable delay.

Mr Ford said: "I welcome the publication of the Chief Inspector's follow up report on avoidable delay. While it shows that some progress has been made since the last report, it is clear that we still have much to achieve.

"The devolution of policing and justice powers provides a real opportunity to make a difference. Speeding up justice is one of my top priorities and I am committed to driving forward work to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful delay.

"We have already put in place, through the Criminal Justice Board, a new comprehensive programme of work focusing on four key issues: case preparation, case management, youth cases and governance. These strands of work were a direct response to the Chief Inspector's emerging findings, which he helpfully shared with the Board in December 2009, they also, therefore, closely mirror his observations and recommendations in the final report.

"My objective is to improve the victims' journey through the criminal justice system and I will be monitoring the outcomes of this programme of work very closely.

"This is a huge challenge for everyone working in the justice system, but I am confident that, working in partnership, we can build community confidence in the system and deliver the step change that is required."