Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 10:15 pm on 2 October 2000.

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Photo of Baroness Hanham Baroness Hanham Conservative 10:15, 2 October 2000

Before the noble Earl rises to make his response, perhaps I may press the Minister further. The problem with Clause 15 is that it does not say what the Minister intends it to say. That makes for poor legislation. What it states is,

"to conduct litigation in relation to any proceedings in any court".

That is prefaced by:

"The Service may authorise an officer".

If the only officers being referred to here by the Minister are those from the Official Solicitor under Section 19 of the Supreme Court Act, then it seems to me that it would be sensible to say so. Otherwise, the question is left open as to whether the tandem proceedings are being interfered with or whether children who are parties in private law cases are in fact stopped from receiving the legal representation to which they are entitled by substituting an officer to fulfil that role.

I hope that the Minister will be kind enough to take this away and reflect on what I have said. This is such an important part of the Bill. Furthermore, it is extremely important to ensure that children do receive proper and qualified legal representation. It would be quite wrong if the legislation were to lead anyone to misunderstand those circumstances.

The Minister went on into an area that we had not covered--that is, the cross-examination of advocates. Now that he has mentioned the matter, perhaps I may comment on it. It is obviously clear that where an advocate is acting for and on behalf of the child there should be no question of that advocate being put into the witness box. That would leave the child unprotected at that stage. In public proceedings, of course, the guardian ad litem--now the CAFCASS representative--would be put in that position, not the child's representative.

But that is the second part of the issue. It is the first part in regard to representation that I would ask the Minister to look at again.