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Lord Falconer of Thoroton moved Amendment No. 156A:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendments Nos. 156B to 156F:
"(c) whether the extent of any present or past party political activity or affiliations appears to him to make the person inappropriate for the appointment.
(12) The first member must consider the same questions before nominating a person to be appointed as the third member."
Page 209, line 8, at end insert—
"(c) whether the extent of any present or past party political activity or affiliations appears to the panel to make the person inappropriate for the appointment."
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton moved Amendment No. 156G:
Page 209, line 18, leave out "district judge" and insert "the offices mentioned in paragraph 2(3)(e)"
On Question, amendment agreed to.
14 Dec 2004 : Column 1286
Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendment No. 156H:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in my wish to expedite the procedures of the House, I forgot to say anything about Amendments Nos. 156H and 156J. They tidy up paragraph 14 of Schedule 10, deleting subsection (3), which says that a commissioner ceases to be a commissioner on becoming a Member of the House of Lords or a civil servant, and inserting a new subsection at the end, which replaces the prohibition on commissioners becoming civil servants. This order is more logical than the existing order in the Bill, as the current subsection (4) relates to subsection (2) and not to subsection (3). I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendment No. 156J:
"(5) A Commissioner ceases to be a Commissioner if he becomes employed in the civil service of the State."
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton moved Amendment No. 156K:
Page 216, line 12, leave out "the Commission is established" and insert "section 49 comes into force"
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Schedule 11 [The Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman]:
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 156L:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, these are technical and drafting amendments to clarify and define what is meant by some of the posts set out in Schedule 12. In addition, Amendment No. 163B clarifies the power in Clause 68 to amend Schedule 12, and Amendments Nos. 164E to 164G delete references to some posts that are currently listed in Schedule 12 but which should not be selected by the Judicial Appointments Commission, for reasons which I will explain.
Amendments Nos. 156L and 156M amend the provisions on who is ineligible for appointment as the ombudsman. They improve the drafting, so that it refers specifically to the offices listed in Schedule 12. Amendment No. 156N removes a possible ambiguity about commencement. The existing wording might give rise to some uncertainties. For example, it might be contended that the ombudsman comes into existence when the ombudsman is appointed, not when the commencement order comes into force, as the amendment provides.
Amendment No. 163B amends the power in Clause 68 for the Minister by order to amend Schedule 12, by adding a power to amend the schedule to reflect changes in the enactments under which an
14 Dec 2004 : Column 1287
appointment is made. Amendments Nos. 164B and 164C correct the references in Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) and Deputy Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate), to bring them into line with Section 10A of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997.
Amendment No. 164D completes the references to the office of justice of the peace in Schedule 12. The existing appointment power is already listed. This will be replaced by Section 10(1) of the Courts Act 2003, when it is commenced next year. The amendment now adds a reference to the new power. Amendment No. 164E removes the references to acting chairman and acting deputy chairman of the Copyright Tribunal from Schedule 12. As the titles indicate, these are not substantive appointments, but temporary stopgaps, and are on reflection better treated as deployment issues to be dealt with by the Lord Chief Justice.
Amendment No. 164F removes the references to the member of the panel of chairmen of Reserve Forces Appeal Tribunals and the member of the panel of ordinary members of Reserve Forces Appeal Tribunals from Schedule 12. Those posts will not come under the ambit of the Judicial Appointments Commission, initially at least. The current practice for making appointments to those tribunals, which are needed only intermittently, is to do so by deployment from existing ranks of judicial office holders and not by separate competitions. Those arrangements work well, and there are no plans to change them. If it proved necessary in future for there to be separate competitions, the posts could be added to the commission's remit by amending Schedule 12.
Amendment No. 164G removes the reference to the president of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal from Schedule 12. The reason is that the post is now always held by a High Court judge. It will be for the Lord Chief Justice to deploy one of his High Court judges to the post after consultation with the Lord Chancellor. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
The Deputy Speaker: My Lords, would the noble Baroness care to move Amendments Nos. 156M, 156N, 156P and 156Q? The question is that those amendments be agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I do not think that I spoke to Amendments Nos. 156P or 156Q. I am sorry if I confused the noble Lord. Should I speak to them now?
The Deputy Speaker: My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness. I repeat that the question is that Amendments Nos. 156M, 156N, 156P and 156Q be agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I need to speak very briefly to Amendments Nos. 156P and 156Q, to which I have not already spoken. It might expedite matters if I do that.
The Deputy Speaker: I am sorry, my Lords; there are no speakers here and I could not hear exactly what the noble Baroness was saying. Amendments Nos. 156M and 156N must be dealt with first.
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Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendments Nos. 156M and 156N:
Page 220, line 18, leave out "the Ombudsman is established" and insert "section 50 comes into force"
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord Renton: My Lords, I hope that the noble Lord on the Woolsack is not racing through amendments. I thought that Amendment No. 156P required some comment.
Lord Renton: That is what we are on at the moment, my Lords.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the noble Lord is right; I am about to comment on precisely that amendment.
Lord Renton: My Lords, may I conclude?
Lord Evans of Temple Guiting: My Lords, the amendment has not yet been spoken to by the Minister.
Clause 51 [Merit and good character]:
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 156P:
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