Inter-Ministerial Group for Justice (IMGJ) meeting summary: 25 January 2024
Updated 20 February 2024
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The Inter-Ministerial Group for Justice (IMGJ) met for the second time on Thursday 25 January 2024 in a hybrid meeting.
The meeting was hosted by the Scottish Government and chaired by Angela Constance MSP.
The ministers in attendance were:
- from the Scottish Government: Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
- from the UK Government: Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice; John Lamont MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland; Fay Jones MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales; Lord Caine, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
- from the Welsh Government: Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution.
In the absence of Northern Ireland ministers Richard Pengelly, the Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Department of Justice, again attended on behalf of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
The meeting commenced with a review of the minutes and actions of the previous IMGJ held on 12 September 2023.
In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement on 10 January, the IMGJ discussed government action to exonerate the wrongly convicted victims of the Post Office Horizon Scandal. Ministers set out advantages and challenges associated with different potential approaches. They agreed that close engagement between the administrations would be crucial to ensure that wrongly convicted postmasters across the UK receive an equitable outcome.
The meeting then discussed measures being taken to improve prison capacity and agreed that the size of remand populations posed a particular issue across the administrations.
The next item discussed was court recovery, including the challenges associated with reducing the court caseload in each jurisdiction. Attendees exchanged examples of recent digital innovations and their impacts. They agreed to discuss the role of technology in the justice system at a future IMGJ.
The group shared updates on recent work to modernise the legal aid system in each administration.
The Chair closed the meeting. Attendees reiterated their support for close collaboration across the UK in the interests of those postmasters who had been the victims of this unprecedented miscarriage of justice.
The IMGJ will next meet in 4 months’ time.