This week’s Queen’s speech has been described as a “mouse of a programme” but last year’s speech contained a raft of new measures to transform the justice system and keep both the legal profession and civil libertarians very interested. Twelve months on this is what has happened to them. Read the full story

The last chance to soften the impact of the justice and security bill steam roller was lost in the Lords last week when Lib Dem peers obeyed the party whip and amendments were defeated by a narrow margin.

The proposals to expand secret courts suffered a series of hefty defeats in the House of Lords last November. But most of these amendments were thrown out or neutralised by a single vote Read the full story

A major study by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), published last week, shows that slavery has made a comeback in contemporary Britain.

The report highlights the horrific reality of human trafficking and modern slavery in the UK. Christian Guy, Managing Director of the CSJ, said: “Our research has uncovered a shocking underworld in which children and adults, many of them UK citizens, have been forced Read the full story

On Monday the Justice and Security bill came back to a packed Commons at Report stage. The bill extends the secret hearings, known as closed material procedures (CMPs), into the main civil courts in England and Wales. Read the full story

In May 2011 an undercover investigation by the BBC’s Panorama programme revealed criminal abuse by staff of patients at Winterbourne View Hospital near Bristol.

After the broadcast Winterbourne View closed, with the remaining residents placed in other settings. A Serious Case Review was undertaken and the police launched their own investigations, with 11 criminal convictions. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected all hospitals and homes operated by Winterbourne View’s owners (Castlebeck Care) Read the full story

Back in May 2010 a Tory and Liberal coalition agreement was produced at break-neck speed. Section 10 of the agreement was about civil liberties. The preamble stated: “The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour government and roll back state intrusion.” Read the full story

The Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support was launched last week. The Commission, chaired by Lord Colin Low, a crossbench peer and former chairman of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, will examine how to cope with deep cuts to legal aid at a time of complex benefits reforms. Read the full story

Ken Clarke has been a big beast in the Westminster jungle for a long time. Now he has gracefully agreed to leave his post as justice secretary and has accepted demotion to minister without portfolio, with the right to advise on economics. Osborne may not be too pleased about that, particularly as Clarke will still be in the cabinet. Read the full story

During Committee stage of LASPO in the House of Lords, Baroness Gale moved an amendment to the bill which would insert a new clause providing for ‘disclosure of information about convictions etc. of violent abusers to members of the public’. It quickly became known as Clare’s Law, after the case of Clare Wood. Read the full story

The Commons Home Affairs Committee is compiling a report on drugs use in the UK, focusing on the effectiveness or otherwise of the government’s strategy, published in 2010.

Giving evidence to the committee, justice secretary Ken Clarke admitted that Britain is “plainly losing the war on drugs… it could be argued we are going backwards at times.” He acknowledged that the existing criminal law was not working. But rather puzzlingly he insisted this was no reason for despair, and politicians had to keep on trying to curb a problem that would not be solved by decriminalisation. Read the full story