Baroness Levitt (Lab)

My Lords, I am very grateful to both noble Lords for their contributions. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, declared an interest as a solicitor. The noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, and I should declare our interests as barristers in that case. I am not sure that it is an interest; it is more an interesting fact that everybody should know about. I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, for his interesting historical trip down memory lane about how lawyers used to be categorised. I am old enough to remember when there was talk of giving members of his profession rights of audience in the upper courts. There was the most terrible outcry from our branch of the profession—one that most of us would now think was misguided. I utterly understand that the noble Lord is not making any criticism of CILEX fellows or suggesting that there is any hierarchy of desirability of lawyers but merely making the point that the drafting is perhaps not clear enough. Has the noble Lord looked at the Explanatory Note? That makes it clear that there will be three commissioners “who are persons practising or employed as lawyers”, one of whom must be a barrister in England and Wales, one a solicitor of the senior courts of England and Wales and one a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. The Explanatory Note, taken together with the regulations, makes it clear that there are only three categories of lawyer. The concern that the noble Lord raised about it not being clear enough has not been raised by any of the consultees. I hope that the Explanatory Note is sufficient to allay his concerns. If not, he can write to me, and we will consider the matter further, but certainly for my purposes I am content that it makes the position entirely clear. Turning to the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, about the structure of the Judicial Appointments Commission and His Majesty’s Opposition’s proposal for a judicial vetting committee sitting within the Ministry of Justice, were any such body to be created, the very first accusation would be of political interference in the judicial appointments process. It would be difficult to avoid that perception, even if it was not correct, if politicians were ultimately deciding who should be appointed and who should not. I am not suggesting for a moment that the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, is older than I am. I am sure that he is younger than me—he looks younger than me and possibly feels it. However, even I am old enough to remember when judges were appointed by the touch on the shoulder. The reason the Judicial Appointments Commission exists is to have as much transparency in the process as it is possible to obtain. For that reason, this Government have no proposals and no plans to introduce a body within the Ministry of Justice such as he suggests. He raised three other points. First, on expanding eligibility, the answer to that is no. Secondly, on whether there is a further review, the answer is also no. Thirdly, on whether it will create extra delays, the raising of the number of commissioners is designed to speed up the process. We are trying to do this anticipating the increase that is going to come. The noble Lord’s further point echoed the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope. I hope that I have answered that. I thank both noble Lords for their constructive approach. These powers are an important tool to support diversity in the appointment of our judges and ensure that the JAC can deal with an increased volume of work.