Clause 7
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
10:00 am
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
The amendments in the group concern clause 7, which is about chambers, which is the term that has been selected to define the way in whichthe new Tribunals Service is likely to be grouped. At present, in order to form chambers the Lord Chancellor requires the concurrence of the senior president. The amendment would additionally require him to consult more widely about the formation of chambers. Amendment No. 37 relates to the assignment of functions between the chambers. At present the Lord Chancellor or the senior president make the order to assign the functions, each with the concurrence of the other. Amendment No. 37 would also require whichever of them was concerned to consult.
A detailed policy statement has been published that explains how the order-making powers in the Bill will be used, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. If it is inconvenient for any member of the Committee to get a copy of that policy statement, I am sure that we can bring some to the Committee, if there are not some here already. The statement sets out how it is proposed the order-making powers will be used. That document makes it clear that the Government have already undertaken to consult widely and fully on the establishment of the chamber structure, as one would expect with such a new structure. The statement also gives an early indication of the Government’s thinking on both the criteria for groupings and possible groups for the first tier, which will be useful for hon. Members.
Our starting point is that there might be three chambers. The hon. Member for North Southwarkand Bermondsey asked me about the Government’s thinking. We are thinking in the direction of one chamber to deal with tax and regulation, one to deal with social security, and one to deal with mental health and related welfare issues. However, the document also makes it clear that a final decision on the initial shape of the chambers will be taken only after a full and wide consultation, which we plan to hold later this year. That will allow everybody who will use the chamber structure—office holders, judicial leaders, tribunal users and their representatives—to have the maximum involvement in the development of the structure.
We plainly have no resistance to consultation andwe intend to hold it. The only difficultly in reinforcingthat consultation as proposed in the amendment isas follows: quite minor changes to the allocation of functions might subsequently need to occur, yet we would have encumbered ourselves with a broad duty to consult in every case, which might be disproportionate.
I hope that I have helped the hon. Member forNorth Southwark and Bermondsey to understand our embryonic thinking. We shall supply him with a copy of the policy document, so that he can study it further. I also hope that I have satisfied the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk that we are very much in favour of full and wide consultation, but that we do not wantany subsequent minor changes to be saddled with a disproportionate demand that we should consult. I therefore hope that I have persuaded him to withdraw the amendment.