Policy
14 May, 2007
Justice - a new approach
Guide to the Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice has published a guide to the work of the new department.
In the guide, Lord Falconer, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, introduces the new department and sets out its key objectives which include:
- promoting justice: by ensuring that there are fair, effective and proportionate ways of resolving disputes; by ensuring respect for the rule of law underpins society, the courts and institutions;
- providing access to justice for all: by making help and advice and financial support available at the point of need and at the earliest stage, especially for the most vulnerable; by helping people to find their own solutions wherever possible, but where court intervention is necessary, ensuring that court processes are simpler and more transparent;
- increasing confidence in the justice system: by improving understanding of justice; by giving communities a greater role in the delivery of justice; by making the justice system more effective, accessible and accountable; by providing greater support for people going through the system and by encouraging diversity;
- upholding people's human, information and democratic rights: by improving understanding of rights; by demonstrating that rights are not just for lawyers or minority groups but for everyone; by ensuring government departments and public authorities apply the Human Rights Act with common sense, balancing the rights of individuals with the needs of wider society; and
- by ensuring that government and public authorities adopt a culture of openness through the Freedom of Information Act.
The full guide Justice - a new approach is available here.
For more background information see the related rightsnet policy news stories -
