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Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lady Ashton of Upholland, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. I am delighted to be moving the Second Reading of the Bill today. I pay tribute to three people who have done the most to bring it before us. My predecessor and noble and learned friend Lord Irvine of Lairg, who sadly is not in his place, started the inquiry into tribunals that led to the Leggatt recommendations that led in part to the Bill. I also pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Newton of Braintree—the exit of people who are, I am disappointed to see, not staying for Second Reading obscured him from my view for a moment, but I see him now. He has done so much for tribunals. My noble friend Lady Ashton of Upholland too has pressed within government for tribunals, which has led to the Bill being before us today. The Bill aims to improve the experience of the public in its dealing with legal and connected problems. In addition, it provides a regime to allow cultural artefacts to come to this country for exhibition without undue risk of seizure. In all too many cases, the public’s experience of legal problems is difficult and complicated. Tribunals are the bodies which resolve most legal disputes in this country. In this Bill we introduce reform to the tribunal system to protect tribunal members’ independence and to make tribunals more accessible and comprehensible to the public. In addition, and separately, we change the eligibility for people who can apply to become non-tribunal judges and we extend the pool for judges. Merit, which is high, will improve. Also, and separately, we make the enforcement of civil debts and judgments more efficient and subject to safeguards and, also separately, introduce additional measures for those who have fallen into debt from which they cannot emerge to put their affairs in order for their benefit and for the benefit of their creditors. First, tribunals are a large part of the justice system, making a significant contribution. They deal with over 500,000 disputes a year, often involving the most vulnerable in society—those who have been victims of crime, persecution, discrimination, or unfair treatment, or who are involved in disputes over benefit entitlement, tax, asylum or employment. Tribunals are one of the most visible aspects of the justice system. Members of the public with a dispute to resolve are more likely to have direct experience of a tribunal than any other part of the justice system. I pay tribute to the many people, legally qualified and otherwise, who play their part in the tribunal system as members or chairs of tribunals. They do an excellent job and should be congratulated. The public need confidence that they can obtain justice in their dealings with the state and in their workplace. They need access to institutions that enable them to resolve their disputes quickly, fairly and proportionately. They need a place to go where they believe that they can get justice without undue expense. Tribunals have grown in a disparate and unstructured manner over many years. Change is long overdue. That is why my predecessor, my noble and learned friend Lord Irvine of Lairg, asked Sir Andrew Leggatt, with Dame Valerie Strachan, to undertake the Legatt review. Sir Andrew’s excellent review found many faults with the tribunals system, most notably the lack of independence of tribunals from the government departments that sponsored them. He recommended a system which would be independent, coherent, professional, cost-effective, user-friendly and, as he described it, "““fit for the users for whom they were intended””." For these reasons, I have already taken stepsto bring the administrative support for tribunals together in a single service in my department. I launched the Tribunals Service in April this year with a mission to provide a single coherent administration for central government tribunals, so that the independence of tribunals from government is strengthened and to ensure that they have the best possible support to be able to resolve disputes quickly, fairly and economically. The Bill now reforms the tribunals themselves with a similar aim in mind. First and foremost, Chapter 1 of Part 1 puts it beyond doubt that the tribunal judiciary are independent from the Executive, and that the tribunals themselves are independent of the departments which make the decisions under review. It is right that this has happened and it strengthens our commitment to increasing public confidence in tribunals. It is a vital part of the Bill. Part 1, Chapter 1, creates a new judicial office, the Senior President of Tribunals. The senior president will be the leader of the tribunals system and will hold a distinct statutory and independent office. Lord Justice Carnwath has filled this post on a non-statutory basis and I pay tribute to the leadership that he has already displayed. Chapter 2 creates a new statutory framework for tribunals. It creates a two-tier system. The first-tier tribunal will deal mainly with first instance appeals from government departments and local authorities. The upper tribunal will deal with appeals on questions of law from the first-tier tribunal. It will also be able, with the consent of the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor, to deal with judicial review cases in the specialist areas covered by tribunals and which are transferred by the High Court or Court of Session. Chapter 3 of Part 1 will allow me to transfer tothis two-tier system the work of the tribunals in Schedule 6. We envisage that occurring 12 to 18 months after Royal Assent. It will bring tribunals dealing with, for instance, social security, tax, mental health and special educational needs into this new structure. The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, the Employment Tribunals Service and the Employment Appeal Tribunal will retain their existing legal frameworks, acting as separate pillars of the new structure. They will still enjoy the benefits of the overarching Tribunals Service’s single administrative structure. The tribunal reforms will create a single pool of tribunal judges and non-legal members. Judges and members will be able to sit in more than one jurisdiction, provided that they have the appropriate skills or experience. Chapters 4 and 6 of Part 1 set out ancillary matters in relation to the tribunal system. Chapter 5 replaces the Council on Tribunals with a new Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. The new body will have a wider remit to look at the administrative justice system as a whole, ensuring that the relationships between the courts, tribunals, ombudsman and alternative dispute resolution routes satisfactorily reflect the needs of users. I pay specific tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Newton of Braintree, for his leadership of the Council on Tribunals and the support and assistance that he and the council as a whole have provided in developing these reforms. I hope I can say these reforms have his support, but he can say so himself later in the debate, if that is his position.