Clause 6 - Abolition of magistrates'
Courts Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Shipley, Labour)
As the Committee is aware, given that the Lord Chancellor is taking responsibility for the administration of all courts in England and Wales other than the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords for the time being, the clause abolishes the current arrangements for the administration of magistrates courts, known as magistrates courts committees. Those and the Court Service will be replaced by an executive agency of the Lord Chancellor's Department. The clause abolishes magistrates courts committees, of which the Greater London Magistrates Court Authority is one—that is mentioned in the Bill. That means that England and Wales will no longer need to be divided geographically into different MCC areas.
I am sorry that the hon. Member for Surrey Heath needed to voice his dislike of the abolition of the MCCs. As a result of the Auld review, the Government came to the conclusion—even in my short time as a Minister with responsibility for the Court Service, it has occurred to me, while thinking through potential improvements to the system—that to have such a rigid and fragmented service with barriers between each MCC area inhibits change. Labour Members may call that modernisation, but I would not want to put off Conservative Members by using that term.
At present, a justices' chief executive acts as the full-time chief officer employed by each magistrates courts committee. As the committees will be abolished, there will no longer be a function for justices' chief executives, so that post will be abolished as well. On behalf of the Government, I pay tribute to all who have undertaken the role of justices' chief executive. Over the years, they have provided immense service to the administration of justice. They will continue to work in the justice system, although the title and role of the post will change and evolve.
As a result of the clause, many provisions of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997 will no longer be operative. In order to keep the statute book in good order, we have re-enacted the remaining operative provisions, with the necessary modifications, where appropriate. We have done so to ensure that all relevant provisions can be easily located in one place.
The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome reasonably raised the matter of using experience gained from magistrates courts committees. That is a fair point. The courts boards will need a great deal of local expertise in order to get up and running. We have got to keep the show on the road and ensure continuity of business. Although the task will change, there will still be a local role. The Government need to consider thoroughly at a national level how to make sure that we keep some home-grown expertise and bring it into the new administration as it evolves.
I hope that the clause is self-explanatory and stands part of the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.