Clause 10 - Unification of appeal system
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Mark Oaten (Winchester, Liberal Democrat)
I agree. It seems a matter of common sense that if the president chooses to refer a case to a higher court he should be bound by any judgment or ruling that he receives from that higher court. Under the Bill as it stands, he could completely ignore it. I think that the Minister would consider that unacceptable—I certainly do. Finding a form of words that clarifies that position in the Bill would, if nothing else, give me some comfort that we have done our job in scrutinising the clauses.
I turn to some more probing points. What powers would the Home Secretary have in relation to an individual case? I am thinking of an asylum seeker in my constituency. We do not get many in Winchester, but I am sure that other hon. Members have quite a number of cases where they feel the need to write personally to the Home Secretary. I am still not entirely clear whether everything that we have discussed could be bypassed by the Home Secretary's choosing to intervene and ask for a case to be considered. If so, where would that fall in the system that has been outlined by the Government?
What about a change of circumstance? Quite a rigid programme is put in place here. There is no ability for an individual to review a tribunal's case and a tribunal cannot look twice at a case. If circumstances in the asylum seeker's country changed or if a new bit of information came to light, I hope that the system could cope. I hope that the Minister can explain how that can be done within the existing structures. We do not want a system where we get gridlock. We do not want the asylum seeker or his representative to receive a letter explaining that although the circumstances may have changed there has been a review and that is it. I hope that such changes can be taken into consideration.
Finally, I should like to raise the issue of the president's power in relation to the instructions that he can give to other members of the tribunal, particularly in relation to issuing a practice direction. At present, the chief adjudicator can issue a practice direction to other members of the tribunal, but it is very much along the lines of explaining the options. It is almost an administrative document setting out what the tribunal can and cannot take into consideration.
I understand—perhaps the Minister could clarify this—that the proposed powers for the president change the force of the practice direction, so that in future it can almost direct the tribunal as to what its decision should be, irrespective of the administrative arguments. That may be the issue that the Minister was discussing earlier in relation to a number of cases—I think that ''starred cases'' was the phrase that he used—in which the decision was virtually known anyway because it was a starred case. However, I would welcome some clarification on practice directions.
I am sure that I have omitted a number of key issues, but that others will pick them up. Although much heat and emotion were generated in the discussion of clause
7, when the dust settles the issues of principle that are being dealt with in this clause will have a much longer-lasting influence on the judicial system.
I urge the Minister to think carefully about removing subsection (7). The Government could still achieve many of the things that they seek to achieve through the proposed streamlining, even if they removed that subsection and retained the possibility of review by a higher court. They would win more friends that way, and still achieve their purpose of making improvements to the system. I hope that the Minister will consider that suggestion carefully.