January - March

Rachel Lindsay, who represents CJI in the UK National Preventative Mechanism (NPM), is attending an NPM event this afternoon hosted by the IMB Secretariat.  The NPM Assistant Co-ordinator will be presenting on the work of the UK NPM and Rachel will be contributing to the discussion in relation to her membership of the NPM Steering Group and CJI’s role as an NPM member.  

Brendan McGuigan CBE will speak at the NSPCC Young Witness Service conference at the Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office on Friday 29 March.  The conference will address the subject of ‘Safeguarding young witnesses in the criminal justice system’.

The event will mark the 20th anniversary of the Young Witness Service and will bring together Sir John Gillen as keynote speaker, alongside guest speakers including Stephen Herron, Director PPS, Tim Mairs ACC PSNI, Brian Grzymek DoJ and The Lighthouse service in London.
 

The Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland Brendan McGuigan CBE has confirmed that CJI will undertake a review into the methods the Police Service of Northern Ireland use to disclose information in respect of historic cases to the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland following a request received from the Department of Justice.
 
Terms of reference for the review will be drafted and when agreed, made publicly available.

“This work will be progressed as quickly as possible taking into account existing commitments to on-going inspection work,” said Mr McGuigan, who added he hoped the work would be completed within six months. 

The findings of the review will be laid in the Northern Ireland Assembly and published when completed.
 

CJI Inspectors have this week commenced work to review progress against recommendations made in its Driving Change inspection which looked at the enforcement of road traffic legislation in Northern Ireland.