Clause 3 - Duty of Commission to secure judiciary reflective of the community

Part of Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:45 pm on 25 March 2004.

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Photo of Dominic Grieve Dominic Grieve Shadow Attorney General 2:45, 25 March 2004

The Minister makes a valid point. However, it could equally be argued that if the facts are as the Minister has stated—and I agree with them—there is no need to encode anything and that the change will happen of itself because the proper frameworks have been set up through the Judicial Appointments Commission. This is undoubtedly an important issue, and I want to do justice to the contribution made by the hon. Member for Basingstoke. However, I do not want to get bogged down, so I shall turn to my amendments.

I will not seek today to get rid of the whole clause, but I want the Minister to focus on our amendments. They concern what constitutes a programme of action. If the programme of action is to be along the lines that the Minister has identified, it will not be one in which a group of people sit round a table and ask how many members of each religious group are present in the judiciary and how they can ensure that in six months they have made the necessary adjustments. The programme must also aim to ensure that people apply.

We tabled amendment No. 12 to insert the word ''continuous'' to make it clear that the programme of action is a long-term project rather than a short-term fix. The anxiety has always been that the provision would lead to short-term fixes to produce the numerical adjustments that might appear desirable. I should be interested in the Minister's comments on that. I think that the word ''continuous'' adds something to the clause and might go some way to confound the suspicions of those who think that the provision will simply lead to a rigging, whereby talent and merit come second and political correctness comes first.

Amendment No. 13 concerns submitting an annual report to the Lord Chancellor about the programme of action. Again I hope that the Minister will accept our proposal, as it is desirable that the House should be kept informed of what is going on. First, it would enable us to applaud progress. Secondly, it would enable us to consider whether there were any problems with what is not an uncontroversial scheme. I hope that the Government will look favourably on the amendment.