Clause 2 - Certification commissioner
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
9:00 am
David Hanson (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Delyn, Labour)
Good morning, Sir Nicholas. Welcome to the third sitting of the Committee.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Foyle for raising this question, because it gives us an opportunity in Committee to establish clearly the role of the certification commissioner and whether it can be satisfied by one person or whether, as the amendment proposes, several people should undertake that role.
I say immediately to my hon. Friend that it is not necessary to have more than one certification commissioner. I will try to explain the Government’s thinking. The commissioner’s task is sensitive and it may be difficult at times, for the reasons of which we are all aware. It goes without saying that the Bill is difficult and causes great difficulties, and I know hon. Members’ objections to the principle of the Bill. However, if it is accepted in principle that the certification commissioner should exist, I believe that the task can most effectively be undertaken by one individual.
If the Bill is passed, the commissioner will be working to an objective test of whether an individual is able to qualify for admission to the scheme. The role of the certification commissioner is to take a relatively straightforward decision on whether a person is eligible using the list of conditions that will, if later clauses are agreed to, be laid down by Parliament for that purpose. The appeals commissioners, to which my hon. Friend referred, have a quasi-judicial role and replicate the role of the sentence review commissioners, who make a different type of decision. The objectivity of the certification commissioner’s role will be clear; he or she will be making that test based on the eligibility criteria.