The Ministry of Justice has published its consultation on reducing the number of judicial review applications. The consultation paper maintains that the increase in the number of such challenges is ‘mainly … the result of the growth in the number of challenges made in immigration and asylum matters’, which in 2011 ‘represented over three-quarters of all applications for permission to apply for judicial review’.

The next meeting of the Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations Legal Network will discuss the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Speakers will include Catherine Casserley of Cloisters Chambers and leading disability rights campaigners. The meeting will be an opportunity for Deaf and disabled people’s organisations to find out how lawyers are using the UNCRPD currently, and to discuss the limitations of, and opportunities available via, the convention in protecting and promoting disabled people’s rights.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday 5 February 2013 from 5.30 pm to 8 pm at the London offices of Scope.

The Prisoners’ Advice Service, which has provided free, expert legal advice and representation to prisoners across England and Wales since 1991, was awarded the Longford Prize for 2012. This annual prize, awarded on behalf of the Longford Trust, recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform, in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality.

The Commission on a Bill of Rights, which was established in March 2011 to investigate the creation of a UK Bill of Rights, delivered its report to the government last month. Seven of the commission’s nine members concluded that, on balance, there is a strong argument in favour of creating a UK Bill of Rights. They focused, among other things, on lack of ownership by the public of the existing Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the convention’).

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and Professor Philippe Sands QC opposed the above conclusion, fearing the argument about public ownership of rights could be used to decouple the UK from the convention.