• About
    • Privacy Policy
  • GSW
  • In Dad’s Shoes
    • An Overview
    • Invitation
    • Media
    • Photos
    • Press Release
    • Soft Launch
    • Speeches
    • Summary
  • Media Coverage
  • Parliamentary Debates
  • Voice of the Child Podcasts

Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Daily Archives: November 22, 2016

New Courts & Tribunals Chief Appointed To Oversee Reforms Is A Woman.

22 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Natasha in Family Law, Researching Reform

≈ 12 Comments

In an increasingly female dominated political landscape, perhaps it’s no surprise that the new Chief Executive responsible for overseeing the modernisation of our Court System is a woman, and she comes to the role with an interesting background.

Susan Acland-Hood may not be a name familiar to most working inside the Justice System, but she’s been advising government ministers on a range of issues, for some time.

As a civil servant private secretary, she covered Home Office and Justice matters. Susan then became former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s adviser (2007-2010), offering him information and guidance on policy and legislation relating to education, skills and families. In a list put together by The Telegraph which sets out Gordon Brown’s top 50 influencers during his time at No.10, Susan was listed at number 43.

After working with Brown, she then went on to head up Enterprise and Growth at HM Treasury, as its Director. There, she was responsible for policies on growth, business, infrastructure, exports, competition and markets, and advised on public spending for Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (now called the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy), the Department for Transport (DfT), the Department of Energy & Climate Change (which has since merged with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), as well as growth-focused policies of each of those Departments.

Susan was also the Director of Education Funding at the Department for Education, where she managed all revenue funding for schools, and all capital funding across the Department.

In October of this year, the government announced that Susan would be heading up the Courts & Tribunals system, but it is today that she takes up that appointment. She has chosen Kevin Sadler to be her Deputy.

In her new role as CEO of HM Courts and Tribunals, she plans to deliver the Reformation programme set out, and has a budget of a billion pounds to do this. In the formal press release for her appointment, Susan says:

“I am very pleased – and know I am very privileged – to have been appointed as Chief Executive of HMCTS. I cannot imagine a better job.

What the courts and tribunals do every day is supremely important. States without justice do not function; the rule of law is one of the things that makes us civilized, and lets us live life knowing that there are some fundamental underpinnings of fairness.

I’m starting in the Ministry of Justice at a time when we have a remarkable opportunity to make a difference. The programme of root and branch change that Ministers, the judiciary and my HMCTS predecessors have developed together is one of the boldest plans in Government. And it is a plan whose time has come. With the Treasury prepared to back it to the tune of a billion pounds, we can deliver what is probably the biggest change to the system in modern times. By building what we do around the experience of those who use the system we can make justice so much better for the millions who rely on it.

I am delighted to have Kevin Sadler – who has been central to the development of the reform programme, and has led it so ably during recent months – as my Deputy CEO. His experience will be essential as we move forward.

While I intend to be mostly in ‘understanding and listening’ mode in my first few weeks, there are a couple of things that I want to be clear about from the outset. The first is that we have a great reform programme that needs delivering on, not uprooting – and my job is to keep it moving, not to start again from scratch. Secondly I’m clear that HMCTS staff are dedicated, professional, and committed to delivering a really excellent service – and my job is to lead in a way that helps them do that, including by clearing out obstacles that get in the way.

I’ve been lucky in that I was able to visit quite a few courts and tribunals around the country before I fully took up post. From those early visits I took away a clear sense of the great work that goes on in our courts and tribunals. I saw some of the changes in action – the Digital Case System and Single Justice Procedure, for example – which powerfully brought home the real impact of reform in enabling us to move away from antiquated, paper-based systems.”

Susan is not going to reinvent the wheel. Her primary motivation will be to resuscitate a system on its knees by trying to make the modernisation programme economically viable. How she will do this remains to be seen, but we very much hope it will include a long term focus on what’s best for service users, rather than the illusion of financial flash in the pan success for the current government.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on modernising the Family Justice System with Susan, she’s just opened a Twitter account under the name of @CEOofHMCTS .

Play nice.

s300_Susan_Acland-Hood_960X640.jpg

 

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 7,954 other followers

Contact Researching Reform

Huff Post Contributer

For Litigants in Person

Child Welfare Debates

November 2016
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  
« Oct   Dec »

Children In The Vine : Stories From The Family Justice System

Categories

  • Adoption
  • All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and The Court of Protection
  • Articles
  • Big Data
  • Bills
  • Case Study
  • child abuse
  • child abuse inquiry
  • child welfare
  • Children
  • Children In The Vine
  • Circumcision
  • Civil Partnerships
  • Consultation
  • Conversations With…
  • Corporal Punishment
  • CSA
  • CSE
  • Data Pack
  • Domestic Violence
  • Encyclopaedia on Family and The Law
  • event
  • Family Law
  • Family Law Cases
  • FGM
  • FOI
  • forced adoption
  • Foster Care
  • Fudge of the Week
  • Fultemian Project
  • Huffington Post
  • Human Rights
  • IGM
  • Inquiry
  • Interesting Things
  • Interview
  • Judge of the Week
  • Judges
  • judicial bias
  • Law to lust for
  • legal aid
  • LexisNexis Family Law
  • LIP Service
  • LIPs
  • Marriage
  • McKenzie Friends
  • MGM
  • News
  • Notes
  • petition
  • Picture of the Month
  • Podcast
  • Question It
  • Random Review
  • Real Live Interviews
  • Research
  • Researching Reform
  • social services
  • social work
  • Spotlight
  • Stats
  • Terrorism
  • The Buzz
  • The Times
  • Troubled Families Programme
  • Twitter Conversations
  • Update
  • Voice of the Child
  • Voice of the Child Podcast
  • Westminster Debate
  • Who's Who Cabinet Ministers
  • Your Story

Recommended

  • Blawg Review
  • BlogCatalog
  • DaddyNatal
  • DadsHouse
  • Divorce Survivor
  • Enough Abuse UK
  • Family Law Week
  • Family Lore
  • Flawbord
  • GeekLawyer's Blog
  • Head of Legal
  • Just for Kids Law
  • Kensington Mums
  • Law Diva
  • Legal Aid Barristers
  • Lib Dem Lords
  • Lords of The Blog
  • Overlawyered
  • PAIN
  • Paul Bernal's Blog
  • Public Law Guide
  • Pupillage Blog
  • Real Lawyers Have Blogs
  • Story of Mum
  • Sue Atkins, BBC Parenting Coach
  • The Barrister Blog
  • The Magistrate's Blog
  • The Not So Big Society
  • Tracey McMahon
  • UK Freedom of Information Blog
  • WardBlawg

Archives

  • Follow Following
    • Researching Reform
    • Join 7,954 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Researching Reform
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: