Recommendation 61

We heard that “there has been a big push in the service to improve liaison, which is paying off”. 97 The Minister for Prisons and Probation told us about the Judicial Engagement Charter, which “sets out how judges are kept informed of the availability of interventions”. 98 Chris Jennings, HMPPS’s Executive Director for Wales who led the introduction of the Judicial Engagement Charter, explained its purpose: “It was a promise of what we would do to engage with the judiciary to make sure that they felt we were fulfilling our obligations and giving them the information they need. We set out a series of commitments as part of that charter, to make sure that at local, regional and national level we have proper engagement structures where we can listen to the concerns of magistrates and provide them with any information that they need to have confidence in our system.” 99