A wide-angle view of the Ministry of Justice Building, Westminster, London.


The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (a combined position). The department is also responsible for areas of constitutional policy not transferred in 2010 to the Deputy Prime Minister, human rights law and information rights law across the UK. The ministry was formed in May 2007 when some functions of the Home Secretary were combined with the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The latter had replaced the Lord Chancellor's Department in 2003. Its stated priorities are to reduce re-offending and protect the public, to provide access to justice, to increase confidence in the justice system, and uphold people’s civil liberties. The Secretary of State is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system and prisons and probation in England and Wales, with some additional UK-wide responsibilities the UK Supreme Court and judicial appointments by the Crown. 102 Petty France is an office block on Petty France in Westminster, London, overlooking St. James's Park, which was designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, with Sir Basil Spence and completed in 1976. It was well known as the main location for the UK Home Office department between 1978 and 2004 when it was known as 50 Queen Anne's Gate and now houses the Ministry of Justice. The building is 56 metres (184 ft) high, with 14 floors providing 51,000 square metres (550,000 sq ft) of office space. The site was previously occupied by the enormous 14-storey mansion block Queen Anne's Mansions which were despised by some architectural commentators - Lord Reigate speaking in the House of Lords in 1972 against the plans for the new building used Pevsner's description "that irredeemable horror" However, the new building's architecture was not favourably received, either, due to its scale and massing with protruding elements at the upper and lower floors, often being described as a Brutalist.


Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: 102 Petty France, Westminster, London.
Photo credit: © John Gaffen 2 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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