Clause 58 - Inspectors of court administration etc.
Courts Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I welcome you back to the Chair, Mr. O'Brien, as I welcome members of the Committee back to our proceedings after a short break. Amendment No. 28 would be an important cost control measure. Even if it does not find favour with the Minister, it might do with Treasury mandarins, but I shall wait to hear what the hon. Gentleman says about that. The reason why we want a requirement that the total cost to the taxpayer of the new inspectorate should not exceed £2.4 million is to concentrate minds. Conservative Members are always worried about the growth of new bureaucracies that take on a life of their own and cost the British taxpayer increasing amounts.
We want the Bill to state that the total cost would not be allowed to exceed that figure, which relates to the compliance cost assessment that the Government have produced. Before extra recruitments were made to the new inspectorate, or expansion was planned, there would have to be savings to compensate for that expansion. Our argument can be shortly stated: we consider that a cap on expenditure is worth while not only at the outset but for the future, so that the new apparatus does not mushroom out of all proportion to its value.
Amendments Nos. 66, 67 and 68 would have a slightly different effect. Although amendment No. 66 relates to clause 59, it is appropriate to consider it now. It is important that the inspectorate can report on IT services, which will constitute an important part of its work. The IT projects associated with our courts and our legal system have an unhappy history. I do not want to embarrass the Government any more than
they are already embarrassed about their IT problems, but it is especially important to ensure that it is part of the duty of the inspectors to report on IT.
As for amendment No. 67 to clause 59, we have suggested that there should be an exception to subsection (3)(a), so that the Lord Chancellor could not add the High Court to the list. That is an important separate category and it would be inappropriate for it to be subject to the powers of the Lord Chancellor under the clause—although it is perfectly acceptable for subsection (2)(a), (b) and (c) to cover the Crown court, the county courts and the magistrates courts. I am always worried about giving further powers to the Lord Chancellor or his successor in title. It would open things up far too much, and the Bill ought to be clear about the Lord Chancellor's powers.
I hope that the Government will accept amendment No. 68. It applies to clause 60, but it is appropriately grouped here with the others. If they cannot accept its wording, I hope that a Government amendment will be tabled to a similar effect. It should be clearly stated in the Bill that the annual report, when it is produced, should highlight not only best practice but the inefficiencies that are found when the inspectorate makes its inspection. Those inefficiencies should be catalogued. The amendment would be a helpful additional clarification of the functions of the chief inspector and the contents of his annual report.
It is all too easy to have annual reports that only tell the good side and do not identify the flaws. Too often in Parliament an august body such as the Public Accounts Committee has had to undertake a separate investigation to find the inefficiencies in an organisation. If it were clearly written in the Bill that the annual report shall not merely be a report to the Lord Chancellor that those of us in Parliament who are scrutinising the work of the new inspectorate can read, but will have to identify best practice and catalogue inefficiencies, that would be useful. Our amendments cover separate points, but the matters involved are important. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say in response.