From today (Friday 1 April), the separate arrangements for the training of judges in the courts and judges in the majority of tribunals will be brought together to create a Judicial College.
The Judicial College will be the establishment which will train judicial office-holders including magistrates and members of tribunals in the knowledge and skills they need to carry out their duties effectively.
This unified training organisation will allow judicial office-holders across the spectrum of courts and tribunals to benefit from shared good practice and learn from the best in both areas. It will build on the existing high standards of training and will be the central professional learning and development institution for the judiciary.
Current programmes of training will continue in the first year of the College’s existence, but over time the College will be concerned not only with specialist training for the varied courts and tribunals jurisdictions, but also with the generic skills exercised by all judges irrespective of the jurisdiction in which they are sitting.
The Judicial College will be governed by a Board chaired by an Appeal Court Judge. The members of the Board are representatives of the judiciary in tribunals and courts, including magistrates’ courts, Directors of Studies for courts and tribunals and the Executive Director of the College.
There is no new funding as the Judicial College will operate using the existing resources dedicated to judicial training in courts and tribunals.
The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) has been responsible for organising training for judges in the High Court, Crown and County Courts and for magistrates and legal adviser training. Under these new arrangements the JSB’s functions will be subsumed within the Judicial College.
For further details see: http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/training-support/judicial-college
