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Human Rights

It has been an interesting debate, although some of the contributions have convinced me that we set about our campaign better to inform the public and others about the HRA and what it stands for not a day too soon. It is a matter of common sense, but that point does not seem to have got across to very many hon. Members tonight. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), the chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, on the breadth of his knowledge and wisdom on this topic. I also congratulate him on his diligence in pursuing the point about a public authority, with which I have much sympathy. When I was a member of the Committee before him, I helped to initiate the first inquiry into that issue. It is a cause of concern that when the Act was passed it was intended that there should be a functional definition of what a public authority was, so that if a public function were delivered by a private body it would be subject to the rights in the HRA. It is interpretation by the court that has moved us away from that position and my hon. Friend is to be complimented on pursuing the issue. The Government are making every effort to help and we have twice intervened in cases to point them in the direction that we think they should go. We await a decision by the House of Lords on one such intervention. It is a poor substitute, but there is little doubt that human rights can be enforced through the third party, which is the public procurer of the services. My hon. Friend made some good points and has been diligent in his pursuit. The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) comes on a bit strong in my opinion when he talks about half-witted bureaucrats who are one law book short of a law library. However, I am pleased that he agrees with me that the press reporting has not helped to clarify the human rights situation. Indeed, the press reporting is considerably to blame. The best human rights myth story was picked up by a newspaper in my neck of the woods and it concerned whether the need to drag one’s wheelie bin down to the end of the drive every Friday constituted forced labour. [Laughter.] However, the hon. Gentleman is right and I think he supports us in trying to drive home a better understanding than that and, I am sure he would agree, a better understanding than was exhibited by many Conservative Members tonight. My hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) also raised the public authority issue. She would go further than the Act and trace human rights responsibility all the way to the ultimate recipient of any public money. That seems a strong line to take, but I was extremely captivated by her idea that there should be inspirational teachers of human rights so that we might inspire the next generation of children to understand them more quickly. I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon for not dealing with the question about full publication of the review. I understand that Baroness Scotland wrote to the Committee in November 2006 saying that the conclusions generated by the review were published as part of ““Rebalancing the Criminal Justice System”” in July 2006 and that that publication, along with the DCA’s review, fully encapsulates the Home Office findings and properly represents the Government’s position.