Examination of Witnesses (Questions 360-362)
RT HON
LORD FALCONER
OF THOROTON
QC, ALEX ALLAN
AND JUDITH
SIMPSON
16 NOVEMBER 2004
Q360 James Clappison: Well, you will
accept there is a difference between accepting in the first place
the wisdom of them and then trying to make the best of what is
being presented to us.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Of
course I accept that there is.
Q361 Chairman: I think the point is made
and I am not sure we are here to debate quite how the Conservative
Party got to its position. Can I just invite you to tell us what
you are hoping to achieve by the pilot of tele-recording proceedings
in the Royal Courts of Justice.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The
pilot is only in the Court of Appeal and it is not to be broadcast.
It is for the judges, the lawyers involved and the broadcasters
to see how it would look, so the way it would work is that you
would do, as it were, a mock news broadcast without what went
on in the Court of Appeal being available and then do it with
Court of Appeal material and you would then be able to see what
it looked like and make judgments about whether or not that should
be broadcast. If, informed by that and by the rest of the consultation
process, people thought and there was a widespread view that they
should be broadcast, then we would proceed to change the law,
as appropriate, to allow filming and broadcasting of certain limited
parts of the court process.
Q362 Chairman: And do you have a view
about whether this should be done in the end or are you waiting
for the outcome of the pilot to make up your own mind?
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: I am
waiting for the pilot to inform us and I wait to hear what other
people say, so I am going to be guided by the consultation, but
I think if the consultation shows that there are problems in the
Court of Appeal end, which is the no witnesses bit, my inclination
would be that we should do it. I think the more that people can
see of what goes on in the courts, but without prejudicing the
interests of victims and witnesses, the better.
Chairman: Thank you, all three, and we
look forward to seeing you again before very long.
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