Lord Meston (CB)

My Lords, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, said, we really have to make a choice between court-based decisions and the panel, as the Bill provides for in its present form. There is merit in both. There is a strong case for the use of the expertise and skills of the Family Division of the High Court and designated family judges—I should declare that, until quite recently, I was one of them. However, as the noble and learned Lord said, the courts will be faced with an initial rush of applications. That tends to happen with any significant change in the law, and it is likely to happen in this situation. It will take some time for the procedures to settle down, whether they are in front of a panel or the court. As the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, said, we require some realistic assessment of the likely additional workload on the judiciary and the court system. The judiciary is of course well used to hard work and working under pressure, finding time when it is required. It should also be borne in mind that not all these cases will be complex or contested. In fairness to what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin, there is no question of cases being nodded through or rubber-stamped, whether by the court or the panel. Family judges are used to prioritising cases when urgency is required, and they do so by underpinning their decisions with focused and robust case management. The noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, is right, and I endorse what she said: judges are real people. I therefore endorse her call for consultation with the current President of the Family Division. I also suggest that one way through this might be an enhanced role for the independent advocate provided for in Clause 22, who will assume the role that guardians have in more conventional family cases—representing the interests of the person, whether a child or an adult, at the heart of the litigation.