Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many magistrates last year took courses described by the Judicial College as "desirable"; and what were those courses.

The responsibility for the training of Magistrates lies with the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary and is exercised through the Judicial College.

In May 2009, the former Judicial Studies Board set out guidance on the status of training and on attendance at training events by magistrates. There are three categories of training: 1) compulsory 2) essential and 3) desirable. Compulsory training arises out of the s.10 (4) Courts Act 2003 which sets out where induction training must take place. Essential training provides consolidation and continuation training and also “specific issues training”. The latter is where major legislative or procedural changes take place which magistrates are expected to be familiar with and where attendance at training events will be expected. Desirable training is what is provided beyond the compulsory and essential elements and the full training delivery programme is determined locally by each Magistrates Area Training Committee taking in to account local training needs.

Under the Protocol for the National Minimum Training provision for Magistrates, HMCTS must provide the resources for the delivery of all compulsory and essential training identified in each MATC Training Plan. The MATC will prioritise the delivery of desirable training from any additional training funds that may be available.

Each (MATC) provides a return to the Judicial College on their activities for the year. The returns show that all compulsory and essential training has been completed but it is not possible to extract from the returns the total number of magistrates who attended “desirable” training during 2013/14 in accordance with the Judicial College definition. The range of “desirable” training events covered overall is as follows: