Schedule 2 - Judicial Appointments Commission
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Des Browne (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office; Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Labour)
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will allow me to warm up a little.
I was discussing the effect of amendment No. 91 and the Government's reasons for resisting it. To quickly repeat some of the arguments, the amendment relates to the provisions for dismissing lay members of the Judicial Appointments Commission in certain cases and is intended to remove the discretion of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in that regard. The Government's view is clear, and we expect the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to act. We do not, however, want to impose a duty on them to do so, because several of the reasons for dismissal are matters of judgment and there would remain an element of discretion, with or without the amendment. An element of discretion is built into the schedule, although it might not seem, on the face of it, to apply to two of the criteria—conviction for a criminal offence and bankruptcy—which some would argue are clear-cut. There is, however, an argument for discretion and a need for flexibility even in those cases.
We must trust the First Minister and Deputy First Minister; we should not tie their hands and compel them automatically to dismiss a lay member who has, for example, been convicted of a minor road traffic offence. The schedule contains generic phrases to describe the circumstances that would justify considering dismissal, but a phrase such as ''a criminal offence'' might refer to a minor road traffic offence. We
must bear in mind that we are asking people to take on a difficult and potentially onerous job, and we should trust the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to apply an element of discretion, albeit in circumstances in which dismissal would be appropriate.