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<p /> <p>The assessment of magistrates’ competence is a matter for the local Bench
Training and Development Committee (BDTC), which reports to the advisory committee
for the local justice area. Where the BDTC has concluded that a magistrate has failed,
over a period of time, to reach the required standard the advisory committee may make
a recommendation to the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice that the magistrate
should be removed from office.</p><p> </p><p>The process for removing a magistrate
on such a basis is managed by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. One magistrate
has been removed from the magistracy during the last year for failing to maintain
the required competences.</p><p> </p><p>Magistrates are appraised on their performance
once every three years for each jurisdiction (adult court, family court, youth court)
in which they sit. Appraisals are carried out locally by trained appraisers in line
with a nationally approved framework. On account of the three-yearly cycle, roughly
a third of the approximately 21,000 magistrates in England and Wales could expect
to undergo appraisal in any given year.</p>
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