Explanatory note

These Regulations make provision in relation to the appointment and tenure of office of members of the courts boards established by section 4 of the Courts Act 2003, and to courts board procedure. The functions of courts boards appear at section 5 of the 2003 Act.

Schedule 1 to the Act provides for the Lord Chancellor to appoint courts board members from among persons of specified descriptions, including a requirement that at least one member should be a judge. Regulation 3 places limitations as to numbers on the appointment of these members, and regulation 5 sets out the procedure to be followed in connecton with appointments of members other than judge members. This includes a requirement to take into account the recommendations of an advisory panel, constituted under regulation 4, which in turn is required to consider the suitability of the candidates who have been identified for appointments in the light of considerations which the Lord Chancellor has indicated to be the most relevant. A different procedure applies in the case of the appointment of judge members; regulation 6 provides in this case for each appointment to be on the basis that the Lord Chief Justice has recommended the suitability of the person to be appointed.

Regulation 7 makes provision for the Lord Chancellor, in consultation in each case with an advisory panel, to select a member of each courts board to be its chairman.

Regulations 8, 9 and 10 make provision as to the tenure of office of chairmen and members of courts boards.

Regulation 11 makes provision about the procedure of courts boards (including quorum and voting), and regulation 12 provides for the validation of proceedings notwithstanding a vacancy in the membership or a defect in a member’s appointment or a chairman’s selection.