Public Bodies (Abolition of Crown Court Rule Committee and Magistrates’ Courts Rule Committee) Order 2012

Lord Beecham Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2012 Grand Committee

I am therefore satisfied that, for both committees, the necessary remaining functions will continue to be carried out after abolition, with no loss of expertise in the making of court rules. Closing these two committees is consistent with cutting out unnecessary bureaucracy and making the carrying out of public functions simpler and more efficient. I therefore commend the order to your Lordships and beg to move.

[Lord Beecham]

My Lords, I have no problem with the substance of this order. However, the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee does have a problem with the form; indeed, it had a problem with the form of the order we have just discussed, and they are not unrelated. The report on the previous order stated that:

“The content of the ED was adequate to explain the draft order but the Committee found its presentation confusing. The ED, like the draft Order, covers the abolition of two evidently unrelated public bodies, and rather than dealing with them separately and sequentially, it jumps between the two throughout. This presentation did not aid clarity when considering the draft Order. We recommend that in future the Explanatory Document laid with any omnibus Order that contains provisions about unrelated public bodies deals with each body separately and sequentially”.

The committee made much the same point in relation to this order, saying:

“The content of the Explanatory Document was adequate to explain the draft Order but the Committee found its presentation confusing and repetitive”.

Of course, I am being repetitive at the moment but that is because it is necessary to be so.

The committee does not have any quibble with the substance, but will the Minister ask those involved in the preparation of these documents to bear these strictures in mind so that clarity is served and what are potentially somewhat different bodies are dealt with separately rather than run together in a rather confusing way? However, we have no objections to the order itself.

[Lord McNally]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, for drawing that to my attention. I am sure that the officials responsible for the drafting are not outraged by the suggestion. I can assure him that we always take note of such strictures, and if we can make orders clearer and less repetitive, that will be to the benefit of all concerned.