The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published its Annual Report for the 2023-24 business year, providing a summary of our activities during the period.
2023-2024 was the penultimate year of the BSB’s current strategy. Over this year the BSB continued to focus on improving our performance and achieving operational excellence. Productivity markedly improved over the year, particularly in concluding investigations. Other highlights from the year include:
- To support the BSB in identifying improvements and ensuring that the enforcement system operates effectively and efficiently in the public interest, the BSB commissioned the leading legal firm Fieldfisher LLP to conduct an independent end-to-end review of our enforcement policies and processes. The review was completed and published earlier in the year and its recommendations will all be implemented.
- The BSB’s work to encourage best practice in the way chambers promote standards, equality and access continued over the last year. As part of this work we held consultative roundtables with barristers and chambers professionals across all circuits in England and Wales to gather their views on our proposals.
- To support high standards at the Bar, we published new guidance on barristers’ conduct in non-professional life and on social media.
- As a contribution to tackling bullying and harassment at the Bar and to promoting the reporting of such behaviour we initiated a series of outreach presentations to explain to professional audiences how the Bar Standards Board will handle such reports.
- New Continuing Professional Development (CPD) guidance and templates were published to help practising barristers approach CPD in a structured and reflective manner and to promote good practice.
- A Data and Intelligence Strategy 2024–2027 was published, setting out a vision and objectives for data and intelligence at the BSB, an implementation roadmap, and the outcomes the BSB seeks to achieve.
Commenting on the report, BSB Director General Mark Neale said:
“Over the past year we have made real progress with improving productivity and in achieving our strategic aims. Our focus remains on delivering the highest possible standard of services to the Bar and the public, both in delivering our core regulatory services as well as in our wider work across the organisation to achieve our strategic aims.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
About the Bar Standards Board
Our mission is to regulate barristers and specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales in the public interest. For more information about what we do visit: http://bit.ly/1gwui8t
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