Clause 2
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
9:00 am
Simon Hughes (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Attorney General, Constitutional Affairs; North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
The initiative is welcome. Bluntly, the Tribunals Service has long lacked both coherence and co-ordination, and somebody should be seen to be leading it. As we all know from our communities and constituencies, that is an important part of the process. The Tribunals Service probably has more people going through its doors than the courts, and certainly more than the non-criminal courts. Given that some tribunals are territorial, and limited to either England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, I assume that the implication is that the president looks after and speaks on behalf of all of them. Is it envisagedthat someone will be chosen, who will come under the president, whose particular role will be to speak for the Northern Ireland, Scotland or England and Wales tribunals? In other words, if a particular issue arisesin one of the jurisdictions within the UK, is there someone within the process who will lead on that?