Part 1Maintaining the court system
Courts boards
5Functions of courts boards
(1)
Each courts board is under a duty, in accordance with guidance under this section—
(a)
to scrutinise, review and make recommendations about the way in which the Lord Chancellor is discharging his general duty in relation to the courts with which the board is concerned, and
(b)
for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (a), to consider draft and final business plans relating to those courts.
(2)
In discharging his general duty in relation to the courts, the Lord Chancellor must give due consideration to recommendations made by the boards under subsection (1).
(3)
If the Lord Chancellor rejects a recommendation made by a courts board under subsection (1) as a result of the board’s consideration of a final business plan, he must give the board his written reasons for so doing.
(4)
The courts with which a courts board is concerned are—
(a)
the Crown Court,
(b)
county courts, and
(c)
magistrates' courts,
in the board’s area.
(5)
The Lord Chancellor must F1, after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, prepare and issue the boards with guidance about how they should carry out their functions under subsection (1).
(6)
The guidance may in particular contain provisions about the procedures to be followed in connection with draft and final business plans.
(7)
The Lord Chancellor may F2, after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, from time to time issue the boards with revised guidance and revoke previous guidance.
(8)
Guidance issued under this section must be laid before both Houses of Parliament.
F3(9)
The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 109(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005) to exercise his functions under this section.