The Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf is to become the new head of the judiciary, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer announced today (26 January).

Speaking to the House of Lords earlier this afternoon Falconer unveiled details of a deal struck between the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the judiciary.

The Lord Chief Justice will become the constitutionally-recognised leader of the judges in England and Wales and will be given the additional title of President of the Courts of England and Wales.

The president will be consulted on all judicial appointments, in addition to the Judicial Appointments Committee, which is due to be set up next year.

He will also be responsible for the education and training of the judges as well as representing their views to the Government.

"The changes I am announcing today, which have been fully agreed with the Lord Chief Justice, provide for a first time ever a statutory guarantee of the vital principle of the independence of the judiciary," said Falconer.

"We cannot take our constitution for granted or assume that what worked will in the 19th century is still relevant today," he added.

The changes come as part of the Government's commitment to abolish the role of Lord Chancellor, set up a judicial appointments commission, and create a Supreme Court.

The Lord Chief Justice was already considered the leading candidate to take up the Lord Chancellor's role as head of the judiciary, despite Woolf's known unease over the Government's plans.

In November, Woolf said that the Government's planned reforms could be "unnecessarily harmful" to the independence of the judiciary.

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