The report calls on ministers and civil servants to accept that judicial review improves decision making and urged them to review their own policy making processes before attempting to limit the judicial scrutiny of ministers’ decisions. The report argues that the government would face less frustration if ministers and civil servants made better use of legal advice.
The report further advocates for the 'legal requirement that government decisions have a "rational basis"', as this encourages evidence-based policy making and insists that the requirement that procedural compliance results in fair decision outcomes. The report also illustrates the Institute’s view that controversial policies ought to be tested in parliament rather that in courts.
The Institute makes several recommendations in the report:
• that lawyers ought to be involved in the policy making process early on to avoid last minute reversals of policies
• civil servants should not resort to using legal advice as a shield when a policy faces problem, as this may reduce ministers’ confidence in that legal advice
• training should be provided to civil servants to understand how to properly commission and interrogate legal advice
• that ministers ought to communicate to each other and with their officials about that appetite for legal risk
Source: Judicial review and policy making
This content was first published by LNB News / Lexis®Library, a LexisNexis® company, on 15 April 2021 and is published with permission. Further information can be found at: https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/
