Transparency in court proceedings is essential for us to do our work. We have therefore consistently championed the principle of open justice and advocated for greater transparency in how the courts operate. We therefore welcome this call for evidence on the way forward for open justice, and urge the government to raise the level of its ambition to tackle the current barriers of access to court hearings and information.
We welcome the government’s aim of “delivering a cultural shift in victims’ experiences by putting their interests at the heart of the justice system”. However, we are concerned that victims of complex economic and financial crime, such as corruption, are currently finding it far too hard to achieve recognition, and receive support and compensation.
This submission first examines two key areas of government activity that are particularly vulnerable to fraud and corruption: government-backed loan schemes and public procurement.
In our view, there are several key omissions in the Bill which have the potential to significantly undermine the potential effectiveness of these important reforms.
A series of political scandals in recent years have exposed significant weaknesses in the UK’s system for the regulation of lobbying. The UK’s standards landscape must be brought up to date to ensure that integrity and ethics in government are regulated in a way that befits a modern democracy; strengthening the Lobbying Act is a central plank of that process. Enhancing the UK’s system for lobbying would ensure greater transparency and more equal access to government, with positive consequences for public decision-making and the use of public resources.
