Dear Me

[liadnan]

The Commission For Judicial Appointments had a watching brief on this year's round of High Court appointments and very recently published its report. Strangely, it seems little publicised, and there is no direct link from the Department for Constitutional Affairs (or Lord Chancellor's Department, for traditionalists) website. However, the gossip mill turns fast...

Final Report of the High Court Audit:

"E.8.4 The picture that emerged suggests that decisions about actual appointment (as opposed to theoretical suitability for appointment) took significant account of factors other than the evidence of candidates’ suitability against the criteria for appointment, gathered and considered in the sift. We have not seen them defined anywhere, or gained a clear picture of how they were taken into account in deciding whom to appoint.

E.8.5 It seemed clear that all those candidates, who were discussed at the Heads of Division meetings, fulfilled the appointment criteria to a high standard. We saw little evidence, however, to suggest that the process by which those finally selected were found to be the most suitable involved any comparison of them with others. They were only infrequently explicitly compared either with the others who were discussed in the Heads of Division meetings or with others in the two A and B merit groups, by reference to the criteria for appointment.

E.8.6 This failure to define and describe in any detail at all a decisive part of the High Court appointment process is a serious flaw. It detracts from openness and transparency. It leaves open the possibility that appointments have been made, not on the basis that the Lord Chancellor has seen better evidence of suitability for appointment for those selected, but on the basis that they are simply better known to the Lord Chancellor and Heads of Division. This is not, in our view, a situation which is compatible with the principle of appointment on merit. It feeds the perception amongst many that this is a process reliant on patronage, and may discourage some well-qualified candidates from applying for office."

Or, to interpret, they went through a very long and complex process and then the Lord Chancellor and the Heads of Divisions went for a quiet drink and decided who they really wanted.