Coroners and Justice Bill
12:00 pm
Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, Justice; Harborough, Conservative)
I appreciate that the Bill deals with about 25 different subjects, but there are provisions in it to allow a magistrate decision to be made by one justice of the peace as opposed to a bench of two or three. Do you see that as a useful advance, either in bail cases—which it does not cover—or in other decisions that courts sometimes have to make? One observation made is that it is difficult to get a bench of magistrates together for quick decisions or lengthier cases. Do you see an argument for allowing magistrates to sit with fewer members on the bench?