Members of the Committee have collective responsibility for the operation of the Civil PRC. They must:
• Engage fully in collective consideration of the issues, taking account of the full range of relevant factors, including any guidance issued by the Ministry of Justice or by the Lord Chancellor.
• Ensure that its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act (including prompt responses to public requests for information) are discharged, agree an Annual Report; and, where practicable and appropriate, hold at least one public meeting a year.
• Respond appropriately to complaints, if necessary, with reference to the Ministry of Justice.
• Ensure that the Committee does not exceed its powers or functions.
Communications between the Committee and the Lord Chancellor will generally be through the Chair. Nevertheless, any Committee member has the right of access to Ministers on any matter which he or she believes raises important issues relating to his or her duties as a Committee member. In such cases the agreement of other members of the Committee should normally be sought.
From time-to-time issues of a confidential nature may arise during Committee work. The duty of confidentiality obliges members to respect the confidentiality of such work. Confidential information that members obtain during the course of membership of the Committee must not be used for the benefit of own or others use.
The
Civil PRC was set up under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 to make rules of court
for the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the County
Court. The Civil Procedure Rules set out the practice and procedure to
be followed.
In
1998, the first set of rules were made by statutory instrument by the Committee
under their new power, hence the rules’ usual citation as the Civil Procedure
Rules (1998). These rules came into force on 26th April 1999.
Since
that time, the Civil PRC have made over 100 Civil Procedure Rule (amendment)
statutory instruments. The Civil PRC
also considers Practice Directions and the Pre-Action Protocols.
The Civil PRC must comprise the following members:
The Head of Civil Justice – The Master of the Rolls
The Deputy Head of Civil Justice
Two or Three Judges of the High Court
One Circuit Judge
One Master of the High Court
One or Two District Judges
Three persons who have a Senior Courts qualification
Three persons who have been authorised to conduct litigation in the Senior Courts
Two members with experience in and knowledge of the consumer and lay advice sector
Day-to-day management of the Committee’s agenda and the programme of work, which springs from it, is undertaken by the Committee secretariat in close consultation with the chair of the Committee. The secretariat is part of a team of policy officials at the Ministry of Justice tasked with managing the Committee’s work.
This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the
Commissioner’s website