About us

The Criminal Procedure Rules govern the way criminal cases are managed, and set out the processes of the criminal courts.

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Criminal Procedure
Rule Committee

Our responsibilities

We’re responsible for:

• making new Criminal Procedure Rules
• simplifying the existing rules
• discussing our decisions with the most appropriate people before our decisions are finalised

Our priorities

Our priorities are to:

• make the criminal justice system as accessible, fair and efficient as possible
• ensure that the rules are simply worded and easy to understand

Membership

The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee consists of the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales and 17 people appointed by the Lady Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor under section 70 of the Courts Act 2003.

The Lady Chief Justice is The Rt Hon. The Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill. The other members of the Committee are:

Member	Capacity	Term of office ends on/to be reviewed by
The Rt Hon Lord Justice, Holroyde (deputy chairman	Court of Appeal judge	31 Aug 2026
The Rt Hon. Lord Justice William Davis	Court of Appeal judge	31 Aug 2025
The Hon. Mrs Justice Foster DBE	High Court judge	31 Aug 2025
HH Judge Patrick Field KC	Circuit judge	31 Aug 2025
Her Honour Judge Heather Norton	Circuit judge	31 Aug 2026
Michael Snow	District judge (magistrates’ courts)	31 Aug 2024
David Barrand	Magistrate	31 Aug 2027
Amy McEvoy	Justices’ legal adviser	31 Aug 2027
Ed Lidington	Lord Chancellor’s nominee	31 Aug 2025
Stephen Parkinson	Director of Public Prosecutions	ex officio (by right of office)
Alison Pople KC	Barrister	31 Aug 2024
Paul Jarvis	Barrister	31 Aug 2027
Shade Abiodun	Solicitor	31 Aug 2025
Edmund Smyth	Solicitor	31 Aug 2027
Chief Constable Rob Nixon	National Police Chiefs’ Council	31 Aug 2025
Rebecca White	Voluntary organisation	31 Aug 2027
Robert Thomas	Voluntary organisation	31 Aug 2027

Meeting agendas and minutes

• 2 February 2024 minutes (PDF, 158 KB, 4 pages)
• 2 February 2024 agenda (PDF, 95.4 KB, 1 page)
• 8 December 2023 minutes (PDF, 90.6 KB, 4 pages)
• 8 December 2023 agenda (PDF, 59.8 KB, 1 page)
• 10 November 2023 minutes (PDF, 131 KB, 4 pages)
• 10 November 2023 Agenda (PDF, 62.4 KB, 1 page)
• 6 October 2023 minutes (PDF, 136 KB, 4 pages)
• 6 October 2023 agenda (PDF, 60.7 KB, 1 page)
• 14 July 2023 agenda (PDF, 60 KB, 1 page)
• 14 July 2023 minutes (PDF, 132 KB, 4 pages)
• 9 June 2023 agenda (PDF, 90.5 KB, 1 page)
• 9 June 2023 minutes (PDF, 153 KB, 3 pages)
• 28 April 2023 agenda (PDF, 60.7 KB, 1 page)
• 28 April 2023 minutes (PDF, 82.2 KB, 3 pages)
• 17 March 2023 agenda (PDF, 96.2 KB, 2 pages)
• 17 March 2023 minutes (PDF, 131 KB, 4 pages)
• 3 February 2023 agenda (PDF, 117 KB, 1 page)
• 3 February 2023 minutes (PDF, 156 KB, 4 pages)
• 9 December 2022 agenda (PDF, 11.8 KB, 1 page)
• 9 December 2022 minutes (PDF, 87.4 KB, 4 pages)

Corporate information

Jobs and contracts

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