Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 5:15 pm on 7 June 2004.

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Photo of Lord Goodhart Lord Goodhart Shadow Minister, Law Officers (Constitutional Affairs) 5:15, 7 June 2004

My Lords, three of the amendments in the group—Amendments Nos. 54, 55 and 56—are in my name and that of my noble friend Lord McNally. Two of the others—Amendments Nos. 54A and 57A—were tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, and I have also put my name to them.

There is enormous value in having some lay members of the tribunal. A purpose of many parts of the tribunal system is that it is possible to bring into tribunals that exercise judicial functions people who have practical experience, even if they do not have legal qualifications. Employment tribunals are a well known example. For the reasons very clearly expressed by the noble Lord, we think it of particular importance that the AIT should not be restricted purely to people with a legal qualification. Many lay people have the common sense, understanding of human nature and so on to make them at least equally good judges of fact as people with legal training. As the noble Lord explained, in very many aspects such judgment is particularly important.

That is more the case than it would be otherwise because of the notoriously inadequate record of the initial decisions made by the immigration officers, of which a strikingly high proportion are overturned on appeal. We see no prospect of the standard of those decisions being substantially raised in the immediate future, although we hope that it will be a target in the longer run. Whatever our views might be if that standard were higher than now, unless it is substantially raised there is a very strong case—it would remain in any event—not only for the inclusion of lay members on the tribunal, but for saying that the initial decision of the tribunal needs to be taken by a panel of three. Then one or two lay members could be included on the tribunal, with a legally qualified chair. Again, that pattern is very frequently adopted in other tribunals, such as employment tribunals.

The amendments would very substantially advance the cause of justice. As the noble Lord said, where there has been a failure of justice by the tribunal, the consequences could be very serious—more so than those of a wrongful criminal conviction. We are happy to make common cause with the noble Lord over all the amendments.