Background History

The Agreement reached in Belfast on Good Friday 1998 provided for a "wide-ranging review of criminal justice (other than policing and those aspects of the system relating to the emergency legislation) to be carried out by the British Government through a mechanism with an independent element, in consultation with the political parties and others ". The aims of the criminal justice system (CJS) were, it said:

1. To deliver a fair and impartial system of justice to the community;
2. To be responsive to the communities concerns, and encouraging community involvement where appropriate;
3. To have the confidence of all parts of the community; and
4. To deliver justice efficiently and effectively."

The Review, which reported in March 2000, "noted the importance of inspection as a tool for holding criminal justice agencies to account for their actions and for the proper expenditure of public resources". It also "noted the views it heard in the course of the consultation process in relation to inspection. All those who commented on the issue believed that inspection of criminal justice functions was both necessary and desirable. There was some disagreement over whether individual agencies should have their own inspection arrangements or whether there should be a single, all-embracing and independent criminal justice inspectorate".

The Review concluded that in the political and institutional context of Northern Ireland envisaged by the Belfast Agreement, the balance of arguments favoured the creation of a single, independent criminal justice inpectorate. It therefore recommended the creation of a statute-based, independent Criminal Justice Inspectorate, which should:

• Be responsible for ensuring the inspection of all aspects of the criminal justice system other than the courts;
• Be funded by the Minister for Justice and that the Chief Criminal Justice Inspector should be appointed by that Minister;
• Present its inspection reports to the Minister for Justice, the responsible Minister (if the agency inspected is the responsibility of another Minister) and the relevant departmental committee or standing committee;
• Publish its reports and make them widely and readily available;
• Publish an annual report of its activities, present that report to the Minister for Justice; and lay it before the relevant departmental and standing committees;
• Be responsible for advising Ministers on standards within criminal justice agencies (standard setting should remain the prerogative of Ministers);
• Employ a range of full and part-time inspectors and buy in expertise, including that from other inspection agencies in England and Wales and Scotland, as appropriate (such as HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary);
• Be responsible for determining its own programme of inspections, in consultation with the relevant Ministers;
• Carry out a range of inspections, including periodic, cyclical and surprise inspections of systems and structures;
• Thematic, issues based inspections; and inspections which might require special skills (eg medical expertise); and
• Work closely with other Inspectorates (eg on health and safety, mental health and social services) and with professional bodies such as the Royal College of Pathologists and the Policy Advisory Board for Forensic Pathology.