| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
(a) in paragraph (a) after "Lord Chancellor" insert "or the Lord Chief Justice";
(b) in paragraph (b)—
(i) after "Lord Chancellor" in the first place insert "or the Lord Chief Justice";
(ii) for "the Lord Chancellor" in the second place substitute "that person, or those persons,".
(3) In subsection (3)—
(a) in paragraph (a) after "Lord Chancellor" insert "or the Lord Chief Justice";
(b) in paragraph (b)—
(i) after "Lord Chancellor" in the first place insert "or the Lord Chief Justice";
(ii) for "the Lord Chancellor" in the second place substitute "that person, or those persons,".
(4) After subsection (3) insert—
"(4) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this section."
342 (1) Section 27A (magistrates' courts committees) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (2) for "by the Lord Chancellor by order made by statutory instrument" substitute "by order made by the Lord Chancellor, after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, by statutory instrument".
(3) After subsection (3) insert—
"(4) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this section."
343 (1) Section 27B (alteration of committee areas) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (4) before paragraph (a) insert—
"(za) the Lord Chief Justice;".
(3) After subsection (10) insert—
"(11) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this section."
344 (1) Section 33 (alteration of petty sessions areas) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (2) after "Lord Chancellor" in the first place insert "after he has consulted the Lord Chief Justice".
(3) In subsection (3)—
(a) in paragraph (a) after "Lord Chancellor thinks fit" insert "after consulting the Lord Chief Justice";
(b) for paragraph (b) substitute—
"(b) a magistrates' court committee fail to comply within six months with a direction under subsection (2);
7 Dec 2004 : Column 880
(bb) the Lord Chancellor is, after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, dissatisfied with the draft order or report submitted in pursuance of such a direction; or".
(4) After subsection (3) insert—
"(3A) The Lord Chancellor may only make an order to which subsection (3) applies after consulting the Lord Chief Justice."
(5) In subsection (4) after "appear to the Lord Chancellor" insert ", after consulting the Lord Chief Justice,".
(6) After subsection (5) insert—
"(6) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this section."
345 (1) Section 53A (costs in legal proceedings) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (4) after "Lord Chancellor may" insert ", with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice,".
(3) After subsection (6) insert—
"(7) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this section."
346 (1) Section 54 (indemnification of justices and justices' clerks) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (6) for "by the Lord Chancellor" substitute "by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor".
(3) After subsection (9) insert—
"(10) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under subsection (6)."
347 (1) Section 64 (training courses) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1) for "by the Lord Chancellor" substitute "by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor".
(3) After subsection (3) insert—
"(4) The Lord Chief Justice may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under subsection (1)."
Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29)
348 (1) Paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to the Data Protection Act 1998 (constitution of Tribunal in national security cases) is amended as follows.
(2) That paragraph becomes sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3.
(3) After that sub-paragraph insert—
"(2) The Lord Chancellor may designate a person to preside under this paragraph only with the concurrence of all of the following—
(a) the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales;
(b) the Lord President of the Court of Session;
(c) the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
(3) The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales may nominate a judicial office holder (as defined in section 88(4) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2004) to exercise his functions under this paragraph.
(4) The Lord President of the Court of Session may nominate a judge of the Court of Session who is a member of the First or Second Division of the Inner House of that Court to exercise his functions under this paragraph.
(5) The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland may nominate any of the following to exercise his functions under this section—
(a) the holder of one of the offices listed in Schedule 1 to the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 (c. 26);
(b) a Lord Justice of Appeal (as defined in section 88 of that Act)."
(4) In relation to the enactment referred to in this paragraph, the original amending provision is paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36)."
7 Dec 2004 : Column 881
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I inadvertently did not speak to this amendment although I was supposed to do so, for which I apologise.
This is part of a large group of amendments that give effect to the commitment I gave to the House in July to bring the Bill into conformity with your Lordships' decision to retain the Lord Chancellor. As your Lordships will be aware, this has been no small task and there are a few further changes to the Bill which remain necessary. Before I outline the amendments before us now I should like to give the House advance notice of what I envisage bringing forward at Third Reading.
I have already undertaken to the House that functions of the Lord Chancellor relating to the judiciary, the administration of justice and the Great Seal will be entrenched. That is, it will not be possible to transfer them away from the Lord Chancellor without primary legislation. Clause 100 of the Bill achieves this in respect of functions conferred on the Minister by the Bill. However, because many of the Lord Chancellor's functions will, now, be removed from the Bill (because they will remain with the retained Lord Chancellor, without modification), I will be bringing forward revised provisions to ensure that this entrenchment applies to the full range of relevant functions, whether they are otherwise dealt with in the Bill or not.
Similarly, I am advised that the Bill's provisions are no longer sufficient to enable the concordat to be implemented as we had envisaged in relation to functions in subordinate legislation, and in primary legislation enacted since the introduction of this Bill. I envisage therefore bringing forward provisions to address that lacuna too.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |