July 21 saw the publication of the government's Judicial Review and Courts Bill. On July 22 FRU chief executive David Abbott spoke at a seminar on reform of JR alongside, amongst others, Lord Foulkes QC, author of the recent Independent Review of Administrative Law, Sir Nicholas Blake and Lord Anderson of Ipswich KBE QC.
At the seminar, organised by Westminster Legal Policy Forum, David illustrated the importance of JR to FRU's clients as a way of ensuring that public decision makers are accountable and follow the law correctly. He expressed concern at the recent climate of criticism of JR and at the inadequate time or resource being given when considering limiting this important safeguard.
Speaking after the conference David said "FRU isn't a campaigning body, but we do make use of all available tools to ensure that our clients have access to justice. Judicial Review is an important way to check that executive powers are being used properly. FRU will always look for opportunities to feed the experience and needs of our clients into the policy making process".