01/2019 - News release
UK Supreme Court's 2018-19 Annual Report and Accounts published
6 June 2019
Today, the 2018-19 Annual Report and Accounts of the Supreme Court was laid in Parliament, covering the Court's ninth full financial year.
Writing her final foreword as President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale reflects on the past financial year. She points to the Royal visit from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in February 2019 as a particularly happy occasion, remarking that the Royal couple took time to meet everyone who works in the Court which "gave a real boost to our morale and we are very grateful."
Lady Hale also charts the changes to the bench during the reporting period, noting that a new Deputy President and three new justices have been appointed.
She acknowledges the former Deputy President, Lord Mance and the two other justices, Lord Hughes and Lord Sumption, who retired during this period. Paying tribute to their work she writes "it would be wrong not to open this foreword without mentioning them, and in particular Lord Mance who has served with such distinction at the highest level of the judiciary in the United Kingdom over so many years, and represented us so ably on the international stage. I was delighted that his career culminated in his appointment as Deputy President and am grateful to him for his support to me in that role."
She also welcomes Lady Arden - the third woman to be appointed to the Court - and Lord Kitchin who were sworn in in October 2018, and Lord Sales who was sworn in in January 2019.
Lady Hale notes that the Court's historic first sitting in Belfast in April 2018 was another highlight of the year. The Court sat in the Inn of Court in the Royal Courts of Justice for four days, where two high-profile cases were heard and the justices even judged a moot final between Queen's University, Belfast and Ulster University. Lady Hale takes the opportunity to thank those in Belfast for their generous hospitality during this time. The Chief Executive, Mark Ormerod, also refers to the Court's sittings outside London in his introduction to the Annual Report. Commenting that these sittings have proved to be very popular, he notes that preparations are well underway for the Court to sit in Cardiff in July 2019.
Mark Ormerod also outlines a new education initiative that the Court introduced in 2019 to reach out to schools and colleges who are not able to easily visit the Supreme Court in London. The programme, called 'Ask a justice', allows schools to request a video conversation with a justice. He also refers to the Court's plans to revise the Supreme Court and JCPC websites.
Supreme Court judgments and Permission to Appeal applications
The Report sets out how the Supreme Court heard 91 appeals and delivered 64 judgments between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019. The number of applications for permission to appeal considered by the justices was 201.
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which is co-located with the Supreme Court and shares the Court's administration, heard 66 appeals during 2018-19. The JCPC gave 40 and received 56 permission to appeal applications, of which nine were granted. The JCPC also received an additional 45 appeals as of right.
Financial information
In financial terms, the Court's net operating cost (this excludes changes to the valuation of the building) increased slightly to £156k (from £4,717 in 2017-18). The accounts show that the Supreme Court and JCPC incurred total expenditure of £13,158k during 2018-19 (£6,289k of which was judicial and staff costs), and recouped almost £8,002k in court fees, contributions from the UK court services, and other income.
The Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure represents the net total resources consumed during the year. The results for the year are set out in the Statement.
The Annual Report also sets out how the Court met its commitments in areas including international relations, sustainability and information assurance.
The Report was presented to Parliament under Section 54(1) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The accounts were presented to the House of Commons under Section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.
The full Annual Report and Accounts can be downloaded from the link below.
Ends
UKSC contact:
Janet Coull Trisic - Acting Head of Communications
020 7960 1887