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Armed Forces Bill

moved Amendment No. 156A: Page 219, line 11, at end insert- ““After section 36C insert- ““36D APPEAL AGAINST ORDERS RESTRICTING PUBLICITY ETC. (1) A person aggrieved may appeal to the Court Martial Appeal Court, if that court grants leave, against- (a) an order under section 4 or 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 made in relation to any trial by the Court Martial; (b) any order restricting the access of the public to the whole or any part of a trial by the Court Martial or to any proceedings ancillary to such a trial; and (c) any order restricting the publication of any report of the whole or any part of a trial on indictment or any such ancillary proceedings; and the decision of the Court Martial Appeal Court shall be final. (2) On an application for leave to appeal under this section, a judge shall have power to give such directions as appear to him to be appropriate and, without prejudice to the generality of this subsection, power- (a) to order the production in court of any transcript or note of proceedings or other document; (b) to give directions as to persons who are to be parties to the appeal or who may be parties to it if they wish and as to service of documents on any person; and the Court Martial Appeal Court shall have the same powers as the single judge. (3) Subject to rules of court made by virtue of subsection (5) below, any party to an appeal under this section may give evidence before the Court Martial Appeal Court orally or in writing. (4) On the hearing of an appeal under this section the Court Martial Appeal Court shall have power- (a) to stay any proceedings in any other court until after the appeal is disposed of; (b) to confirm, reverse or vary the order complained of; and (c) to make such order as to costs as it thinks fit. (5) Without prejudice to the generality of section 84 of the Supreme Court Act 1981, rules of court may make in relation to trials satisfying specified conditions, special provision as to the practice and procedure to be followed in relation to hearings in camera and appeals from orders for such hearings and may in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of this subsection, provide that subsection (3) above shall not have effect.”””” The noble Lord said: Sometimes in a court martial it is necessary for part of the proceedings to be subject to reporting restrictions. As a result of that the proceedings are not fully covered by the media. It may also be the case that some part of the proceedings, due to the sensitivity of what is being discussed—particularly in a court martial—will be held in camera and obviously cannot be reported. There is a lacuna in the provision for reporting restrictions in that, unlike the Crown Court, there is no right of appeal from the decision of the judge advocate when he imposes these reporting restrictions. This has been addressed by an amendment in the House of Commons to Clause 162(3)(h) and (8), and we have today amended paragraph (h) by Amendment No. 134A. So the Government, appreciating that there is this absence for an appeal by the media against reporting restrictions, have now included a provision for appeals to be made to the Court Martial Appeal Court and are proposing that there should be regulations to that effect set out in the court martial rules which are to be made by the Secretary of State under Clause 162. I look for an explanation from the Minister as to why rules are being used for this purpose. Amendment No. 156A seeks to insert into the Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act like provisions to those which apply in the Crown Court so that the system of appeals and the powers of the Court Martial Appeal Court in relation to an appeal on reporting restrictions are set out on the face of the Bill and not contained in rules and regulations at a later stage. I see no reason why the court martial procedure should be any different from the Crown Court procedure in a matter of this nature. Both the Government and myself are clearly on the same lines in seeking to have an appeal procedure, the lack of which results from the curious unintended consequence of the abolition of judicial review in relation to courts martial in 2001 following a case which was successfully pursued in the Divisional Court. It is an anomaly. But, as I say, we are both on the same lines. I look forward to hearing why it is that the Government wish to deal with this by way of rules and not by putting it in the Bill. I beg to move.