Concerns about Criminal Justice and Courts Bill Part 4, which deals with judicial review, were raised by a report from the House of Lords Constitution Committee just before the bill began its committee stage in the Upper House this month. The report, published in early July, questioned the government’s position that judicial review ‘has expanded massively’; it pointed out that once immigration cases were removed, the number of applications for judicial review had increased modestly (page 4). The report invited the House of Lords to consider whether clause 64 of the bill ‘risks undermining the rule of law’ because its provisions risk ‘unlawful administrative action going unremedied’ (page 5).

■ Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, available at: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201415/ldselect/ldconst/18/18.pdf.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) published its first annual report and accounts in June. Matthew Coats, the LAA’s chief executive and accounting officer, said that the agency’s first year was ‘one of improving our processes, while achieving sustained strong performance’. On the same day, the annual report of the Director of Legal Aid Casework was made available. This report documented the work carried out by the LAA when Matthew Coats exercises his role as Director of Legal Aid Casework under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ‘to make determinations on the provision of legal aid in individual cases’.

■ Legal Aid Agency: annual report and accounts 2013–14, available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323366/laa-annual-report-accounts-2013-14.pdf. ■ Director of Legal Aid Casework: annual report 2013–14, available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323368/dlac-annual-report-2013-14.pdf.

Tribunals statistics quarterly: January to March 2014, published in June, presented the latest statistics on the type and volume of tribunal cases that were received, disposed of or outstanding for the fourth quarter of the 2013/2014 financial year. HM Courts and Tribunals Service recorded 84,700 new applications in the period from January to March 2014. This was 67 per cent lower than in the same period of 2013, and the lowest number of new applications since the statistical series began in 2008/2009. There were 692,000 new applications in 2013/2014, down 21 per cent on the previous year. According to the Ministry of Justice, this fall was driven by reductions in social security and child support appeals and employment claims.

■ Available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/319488/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-march-2014.pdf.