Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory training on memory science for judges; and whether he will introduce mandatory training on memory science for judges.

Responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lord Chief Justice and with the Senior President of Tribunals (for the tribunals judiciary, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, in line with the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007) and is exercised through the Judicial College.

To preserve judicial independence, the judiciary and professional staff in the Judicial College are responsible for the design, content, and delivery of judicial training.

Courts and tribunals across all jurisdictions rely upon individuals accurately recalling things when giving evidence, both oral and written. The cross-jurisdictional induction and continuation seminars that deal with judicial assessment of the reliability and credibility of witnesses, refer to this during presentations and workshops.