Clause 24 - Establishment of tribunal
Civil Contingencies Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Richard Allan (Shadow Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, Cabinet Office; Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat)
I share the concerns of the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire about whether the clause is a toothless tiger and whether it has any force. Another aspect of subsection (2)(b) also worried me—the circumstances in which the Council on Tribunals could consent or in other words simply say, ''Yes; we do not need to be consulted.'' If the Government intend to give the council the option to say just a flat yes we will miss out on subsection (5), which is important. Once the council had been consulted, various reports would tell us what it thought, the extent to which the regulations met its expectations and so on. It would also be important to receive an explanation regarding any departures from the recommendations in the report.
I hope that the Minister can assure us that clause 24(2)(b) will be tightened up. We must remember that any tribunals set up under emergency regulations are set up in extreme circumstances. Tribunals should be available to cover most normal circumstances, so we are talking about a very special tribunal in that regard. Such a tribunal may be able to decide on the fate of flocks of sheep, for instance, which may be of great importance to individuals or to human health, in terms of vaccination, quarantine and so on. He should assure us that in such circumstances, there is no cop- out whereby the Council on Tribunals can say ''Go ahead'' without our seeing a report on its reasoning or on whether the regulations met its expectations. As I read it, subsection (2)(b) suggests that that is precisely what would happen.