Commentary on Sections: Part 1 Courts boards Section 5: Functions of Courts Boards
21.Section 5 requires each courts board to scrutinise, review and make recommendations about how the Lord Chancellor is fulfilling his general duty.  It specifies that courts boards will, in particular, consider draft and final business plans for their area.  It requires  the Lord Chancellor to issue the courts boards with guidance about how they should carry out their functions, including the procedures to be followed in considering draft and final business plans.  This guidance must be laid before both Houses of Parliament.  The Lord Chancellor must give due consideration to their recommendations.  If the Lord Chancellor rejects a courts board’s recommendations on its final business plan he must give to them his reasons for doing so in writing. Subsection (4) makes clear that courts boards are not concerned with the Court of Appeal or High Court.