The Criminal Procedure Rules 2020

Duty of court officer

25.18.  The court officer must—

(a) serve on each party notice of where and when an adjourned hearing will resume, unless that party was present when that was arranged;

(b) if the reason for the adjournment was to postpone sentence, include that reason in any such notice to the defendant;

(c) unless the court otherwise directs, make available to the parties any written report to which rule 25.16(2) applies (pre-sentence and medical reports);

(d) where the court has ordered a defendant to provide information under section 25 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988(1), serve on the defendant notice of that order unless the defendant was present when it was made;

(e) give the court such other assistance as it requires, including—

(i) selecting jurors from the panel summoned by the Lord Chancellor, under rule 25.6 (Selecting the jury),

(ii) taking the oaths or affirmations of jurors and witnesses, under rules 25.6 and 25.11 (Evidence of a witness in person),

(iii) informing the jurors of the offence or offences charged in the indictment, and of their duty, under rule 25.9 (Procedure on plea of not guilty),

(iv) recording the date and time at which the court gives the jury oral directions under rule 25.14(2) (directions about the law),

(v) recording the date and time at which the court gives the jury any written directions, questions or other assistance under rule 25.14(4), and

(vi) asking the jury foreman to deliver the verdict, under rule 25.14(5).

[Note. See also section 82 of the Senior Courts Act 1981(2) (Duties of officers of Crown Court).

Under Part 5, the court officer must—

(a) record details of a case and of the court’s decisions; and

(b) give public notice of specified details about a trial, including by such arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs.

Under section 25 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, where the court does not know a defendant’s sex or date of birth, then on convicting the defendant of an offence involving obligatory or discretionary disqualification, the court must order the defendant to provide that information.]

(1)

1988 c. 53; section 25 was amended by section 90 of, and paragraphs 140 and 142 of Schedule 13 to, the Access to Justice Act 1999 (c. 22), section 165 of, and paragraph 118 of Schedule 9 to, the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (c. 6) and section 109 of, and paragraph 311 of Schedule 8 to, the Courts Act 2003 (c. 39).

(2)

1981 c. 54; section 82 was amended by section 15 of, and paragraphs 114 and 135 of Schedule 4 to, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) and sections 116 and 178 of, and Part 3 of Schedule 3 to, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25).