Amendment Paper as at
Monday 20th October 2003
CONSIDERATION OF BILL
COURTS BILL [LORDS], AS AMENDED
NEW CLAUSES
Accessibility of justice
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
NC1
To move the following Clause:
'In doing any thing in the discharge of his general duty in relation to the courts under section 1, the Lord Chancellor must have regard for the need for justice to be accessible.'.
Judicial independence
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
NC2
To move the following Clause:
'The Lord Chancellor is under a general duty to preserve and maintain the independence of the judiciary.'.
Circuits
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
NC3
To move the following Clause:
'( ) The courts boards within an individual Circuit may from time to time meet together to consider matters relating to the courts in that Circuit area.
( ) Before altering any Circuit area, the Lord Chancellor must consult with the courts boards affected.'.
General duty
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
NC4
To move the following Clause:
'The Lord Chancellor and the Department for Constitutional Affairs are under a general duty to preserve and maintain the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and the lay magistracy.'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
1
Page 1, line 5 [Clause 1], leave out 'and effective' and insert ', effective and accessible'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
48
Page 1, line 10 [Clause 1], leave out 'and'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
49
Page 1, line 10 [Clause 1], at end insert ', and that there is at least one magistrates' court in every local government area in the United Kingdom (at least one within every borough and district council area in England and Wales)'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
50
Page 2, line 2 [Clause 1], at end insert 'which must include a report on the operation of this legislation and must contain a report by analysts independent of Her Majesty's Government about how the changes brought about by this legislation and other changes since May 1997 have affected the accessibility of courts to court users.'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
47
Page 2, line 7 [Clause 2], at end insert 'and shall ensure that all those who sit as justices' clerks continue to retain their status independent of the Civil Service, owing their duty to the court and to the impartial administration of justice, whilst retaining all their pre-existing employment rights and benefits'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
46
Page 3, line 4 [Clause 3], at end insert 'and shall ensure that accessibility of the courts to court-users is an overriding priority, and ensure that all guidelines on the provision of courts reflect this, to guarantee that no court buildings will be closed in future if the local magistrates believe they should remain open to provide local justice, irrespective of other factors'.
Mr David Heath
Mr Simon Hughes
56
Page 3, line 35 [Clause 4], leave out from 'specifying' to first 'the' in line 38 and insert
'(a) | in respect of areas except London, areas which are the same as, or fall entirely within, the police areas listed in Schedule 1 to the Police Act 1996 (c. 16) (division of England and Wales, except London, into police areas), and |
(b) | in respect of London, at least five separate areas falling entirely within'. |
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
2
Page 3, line 35 [Clause 4], leave out from 'which' to first 'the' in line 38 and insert
'(a) | in respect of areas except London, are the same as, or fall entirely within, the police areas listed in Schedule 1 to the Police Act 1996 (c. 16) (division of England and Wales, except London, into police areas), and |
(b) | in respect of London, fall entirely within'. |
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
51
Page 3, line 35 [Clause 4], after 'as', insert '(or in any event no larger than)'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
3
Page 4, line 6 [Clause 5], after 'concerned', insert
'( ) in particular, to scrutinise, review and make recommendations about the way in which the Lord Chancellor is discharging his duty under section 21 in relation to the courts with which the board is concerned;'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
4
Page 5, line 13 [Clause 8], at end insert
'( ) No local justice area may include areas which form part of more than one area specified under section 4.'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
5
Page 5, line 13 [Clause 8], at end insert
'( ) No local justice area may include areas which form part of more than one area established under Schedule 11 to the Police Act 1996 (c. 16).'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
52
Page 5, line 14 [Clause 8], at end insert 'but only with the prior consent of the lay justices for that area and in any event not in a way which removes the co-terminosity of a local justice area with a police authority area'.
Mr Christopher Leslie
37
Page 9, line 8 [Clause 17], leave out paragraph (c).
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
8
Page 14, line 14 [Clause 30], after 'courts', insert '(including family proceedings courts and youth courts)'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
6
Page 14, line 33 [Clause 30], after 'place', insert 'in the local justice area'.
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
7
Page 14, line 33 [Clause 30], at end insert
'(e) | a place where specific facilities are available which are necessary in the interests of justice'. |
Mr David Heath
Norman Lamb
55
Page 44, line 14 [Clause 92], at end insert
'(3A) The Lord Chancellor may not under this section prescribe fees which seek to recover
(a) | the costs of judicial salaries; or |
(b) | the notional cost in use of heritage buildings.'. |
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
53
Page 45, line 6 [Clause 93], leave out 'and'.
Mr William Cash
Mr Nick Hawkins
Mr David Wilshire
54
Page 45, line 8 [Clause 93], at end insert ', and
(c) | the proceedings have been instigated by or with the consent of the Attorney General.'. |
Mr Christopher Leslie
38
Page 47, line 27 [Clause 97], leave out 'a local justice area, or particular local justice areas' and insert 'the local justice area or areas specified in the order'.
Mr Andrew Dismore
9
Page 49, line 17 [Clause 100], after 'may', insert ', if the claimant consents,'.
Mr Andrew Dismore
10
Page 50 [Clause 100], leave out lines 27 to 34.
Mr Christopher Leslie
39
Page 56, line 13 [Clause 103], leave out subsection (3) and insert
'(3) For subsection (1) substitute
"(1) The Lord Chancellor, after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice, may appoint as Official Solicitor to the Supreme Court a person who is
(a) | a solicitor of the Supreme Court of at least 7 years' standing, or |
(b) | a member of the Bar of Northern Ireland of at least 7 years' standing."'. |
Mr Christopher Leslie
40
Page 59, line 30 [Clause 109], at end insert
'( ) Schedule (Transitional provisions and savings) contains transitional provisions and savings.'.
NEW SCHEDULE
Mr Christopher Leslie
NS1
To move the following Schedule:
'Transitional provisions and savings
1 | | In this Schedule "the JPA 1997" means the Justices of the Peace Act 1997 (c.25). |
2 | | Any order which, immediately before section 2 comes into force, was in force under section 27(3) of the Courts Act 1971 (c.23), including, in particular, any order made under section 27(3) by virtue of |
(a) section 4(7) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 (c.9), or
(b) section 82(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (c.23),
shall have effect as if made under section 2 for the purpose of discharging the Lord Chancellor's general duty in relation to the courts (and may be amended or revoked accordingly).
3 | | The first order under section 8 must specify as a local justice area each area which was a petty sessions area immediately before the time when that section comes into force. |
4 | | A person who, immediately before section 10 comes into force, was a justice of the peace for a commission area under section 5 of the JPA 1997 shall be treated as having been |
(a) appointed under section 10(1) as a lay justice for England and Wales, and
(b) assigned under section 10(2)(a) to the local justice area which
(i) | is specified as such in the first order under section 8, and |
(ii) | immediately before section 10 comes into force, was the petty sessions area in and for which he ordinarily acted. |
5 | (1) | The existing supplemental list shall have effect as the supplemental list required to be kept by section 12; and any name which, immediately before that section comes into force, was included in that list under a provision listed in column 1 of the table shall be treated as having been entered in the list under the provision listed in column 2 |