Clause 3 - Certificates of eligibility
Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill
10:30 am
David Hanson (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Delyn, Labour)
The Government object to the fact that exiling exists; we do not believe that it is a positive development. We want to stop the practice of exiling and work with the police service and others to ensure that individuals have the protection of the law in returning to their homes. However, I do not believe that we can link the two in the Bill, as has been proposed by the hon. Members for Belfast, East and for Solihull.
Other amendments relate directly to the conditions of eligibility. Under amendment No. 112, moved by the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson), the certification commissioner would be given discretion over who should enter the scheme, irrespective of whether they met the conditions. For the reasons that I have mentioned, I do not believe that that is the right approach. The certification commissioner will be given a hard task under the legislation, which is essentially one of making an objective judgment on whether a person fulfils the criteria laid down by subsections (2) and (3) and other provisions. To burden the commissioner with a lack of objectivity in the task—the degree of discretion as proposed by the hon. Gentleman—will make every decision open to challenge on either personal or political grounds. I want to ensure that that does not happen.
On Thursday afternoon, the hon. Gentleman also asked why we chose the date of 1 November in the legislation. The date has no particular significance. It was chosen before the introduction of the legislation, because if the date had been chosen after the publication of the Bill, it would have enabled people to exploit the scheme by putting themselves outside the jurisdiction after the Bill had been published. The date, which is a random one, was intended to be put forward before the publication date of 9 November simply to ensure that a date was in place prior to the legislation.
These matters were discussed some days ago. The hon. Member for Belfast, East asked whether the Government believe that the Bill is compliant with the European convention on human rights.