Western Circuit Conference of HMCS - 22nd Sept 09

Wednesday, 30 September 2009 00:00

For the first time in September 2009 the Western Circuit conference of HMCS at Dartington was co-hosted by the Peninsula Family Justice Council.

Roughly 155 Judges, Magistrates Family Court Chairmen, barristers, local authority and private practice solicitors, Cafcass, police and probation officers and other professionals gathered in the tranquil setting of Dartington Hall on 22nd September 2009 to explore the thorny issue of how the overlapping Criminal and family jurisdictions communicate with each other in the fields of children, domestic violence and ancillary relief / proceeds of crime proceedings, and what can be done to effect change for the better.

The keynote address was given and the conference summarised by Mr Justice Hedley, Chair of the MoJ Family / Criminal interface committee, and Mr Justice Coleridge co-ordinated the very full conference which heard from extremely high quality speakers whose documents and talk outlines can be found here.

Delegates attended breakout groups, and provided feedback, to Mr Justice Hedley. A summary of feedback from syndicate groups can be found here.

A summary of the observations of Hedley J will be posted on the site, as soon as approved.

The conference recognised the enormous effort contributed by the joint organisers, Jeanette Keeling and Matt Lear of HMCS and Norman Hartnell Secretary of PFJC which made the day both enjoyable and successful.

In his closing address Mr Justice Hedley issued a challenge to all those present to put into practice what he had made clear was already possible without the necessity of any change in the law, namely (1) to bring about joint working of and communication between the Family and Criminal systems on the ground, for the benefit of the families concerned and the efficient running of the two systems. (2) to take the responsibility in every individual case to find out the position where there are multiple proceedings and to ensure that all Courts are aware of the approach and position in the other throughout the case.

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