We have responded to the Justice Select Committee inquiry into the Access to Justice impacts of courts and tribunals reform. Our response focuses on the HMCTS Reform Programme in the criminal courts as it affects child defendants, especially on the use of video links and online pleas.

We welcome the Charlie Taylor review of the youth justice system and the government’s response. We agree with the principles stated by, and implicit in, Taylor’s work, and with many of his recommendations. A number of the government’s commitments set out in its response are welcome; however, we are disappointed that it has not gone further and that it has failed to respond to some of Taylor’s proposals at all.