Member

So my question to the Minister—this is not about whether the Government take a view on whether the Bill should or should not pass; it is a matter of principle—is: whatever is passed by Parliament, do the Government undertake to make the resources available to deliver what Parliament passes? It is no good people saying, “The law will have been passed so the Government must do that”. There are lots of areas of policy where the law says that certain things must happen but they do not happen either at the right level of priority or at all. Resources are inevitably limited and Ministers rightly have to make trade-offs and judgments. That is why we see delays in the court system today: there is not an infinite level of resources. Before this House makes a decision on whether to move to the judicial model or remain with the panel system, it needs to know not just what the right model is in principle but whether, if it chooses to move to a judicial model, the right level of resources will be provided to make it workable.