Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)

My Lords, first, I congratulate the noble Lord on his concise and detailed opening on a complicated set of regulations. I note that the regulations were introduced by the last Government and have hardly undergone any significant change since their introduction, so it is unsurprising that they are likely to be relatively uncontroversial. There will certainly be no opposition from the Liberal Democrats to these proposals. The most significant of what are largely tidying-up amendments are those that bring into line with other fee-paid judges a number of tribunal judges and chairs. That is completely in line with the view that we all take—that tribunal judges and chairs are a very important part of the working judiciary and that the tribunal system does the whole work extremely well. It is right that the pension arrangements for paid judges should be aligned. The other significant point is that the pension arrangements for part-time service in the light of the O’Brien judgment are now going to be tidied up so that some of the anomalies that arose from that judgment have been eliminated, so far as they can be, although it is a difficult area—and I appreciate that the regulations have to reflect that difficulty. I noted from the Explanatory Memorandum and the Minister’s opening that there was a consultation, which attracted no fewer than six responses, none of them critical—and, I take it, all of them raising questions that have been satisfactorily answered. In view of that, I have no further questions for the Minister on this SI.