Clause 13
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill
1:15 pm
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.