Clause 13
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
1:15 pm
Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Constitutional Affairs; North West Norfolk, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 52, in clause 13, page 10, line 30, at end insert—
‘(7A) The Lord President may, as respects an application under subsection (4) for which the relevant appellate court is the Court of Session, by order make provision for leave not to be granted on the application unless the Upper Tribunal or (as the case may be) the Court of Session considers—
(a) that the proposed appeal would raise some important point of principle or practice, or
(b) that there is some other compelling reason for the Court of Session to hear the appeal.’.
The amendment is on the same subject matter as the clause title and was recommended by the Law Society of Scotland, of whose opinions I believe we should take due note. It is an eminent body and it should know what it is talking about. It is concerned that clause 13 does not contain a provision relating to the Lord Presidency and the Court of Session.
In the House of Lords, Baroness Ashton kindly said that she would consider the equivalent amendment carefully, positively and with an open mind. The reason why we have tabled the amendment again is to remind the Minister of those commitments, and I hope that in the spirit of good will that is permeating the Committee the Minister will accept the amendment.
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
The amendment would extend to the Court of Session the possibility of limiting second appeals in the way in which they are limited for the rest of the UK. The limitation is established in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but there is no equivalent provision for Scotland. The hon. Gentleman is right: his noble colleague, Lord Kingsland proposed the same amendment in the other place, and my noble Friend, Baroness Ashton undertook to consult the Lord President and the Scottish Executive.
As a result of the consultation, we concluded that the judicially led review of the Scottish civil courts announced by the Minister for Justice in the Scottish Executive in March 2006 would be best placed to consider the detail of possible application for second appeals in Scotland across all Scottish civil courts. I hope that the hon. Gentleman agrees with that conclusion and can be persuaded to withdraw his amendment.
When the hon. Gentleman referred to the Tsfayo case, he referred to a similar undertaking made by my noble Friend, Baroness Ashton to give further information about the case. I shall write to him about that.
Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Constitutional Affairs; North West Norfolk, Conservative)
I welcome what the Minister has said. As we have such good will from her I hope that at some stage she will say that she will come back on Report with a Government amendment to satisfy those points. Perhaps she can consider what I have said in the light of tabling a Government amendment at that stage if she feels that it is possible. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.