Justices of the Peace and Authorised Court and Tribunal Staff (Costs) Regulations 2020

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for again introducing the SI so comprehensively. It just shows how remote lawyers in other fields sometimes are that I did not notice that the justices’ clerk had been abolished; I confess that it was only when I read this SI that I realised that this very long-standing, almost Dickensian pedigree was no longer with us.

Obviously it is extremely desirable that authorised courts or tribunal staff are supported in this way. My only question is about the use of the word “mirroring”, a word that occurs all the way through the Explanatory Notes. Does that mean effectively that the right to costs is identical between the previous justices’ clerks and the current appropriately qualified court or tribunal staff who are authorised to perform certain judicial functions, or has some difference crept in that is either more or less generous?

[Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)]

I echo the thanks of the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, to the Minister for his detailed introduction. As he said, these are technical rules. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Clement Jones, because in reading through the SI over the weekend I was struggling to find a question within it. I welcome the intent to indemnify the authorised officers against any actions that they carry out in good faith.

I have a question about numbers. I noticed that the impact assessment said there was no change from the previous impact assessment carried out in 2018. Does the Minister know how many individuals had to be indemnified and had cases brought against them? Again, if he does not have that information to hand, I am more than happy for him to drop me a note.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay]

In the interests of speed and accuracy, it might be more helpful if I write to the noble Lords to provide that information. The noble Lord, Lord Clement Jones, is right that this is a moment for us to pay tribute to the soon-to-disappear office of justices’ clerk, though their work will continue in this new form and broadly contribute to the efficiency of our courts and tribunals.

The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, asked about “mirroring”. I confirm that the content of the new regulation is identical; it is mirrored exactly.

I said in my opening comments that the regulations will do what we consider they must to implement the Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Act 2018. They supplement the protections that authorised officers need and ensure that there is a functioning and regulated procedure for any payment of costs to litigants in proceedings against such officers. I hope I have been clear that the Government have done what we can in these regulations to retain clarity by replicating the protections currently afforded to justices’ clerks to ensure that we cause minimum disruption to courts’ business in maintaining the status quo by mirroring what are already well-established procedures.

The Government’s aim is to set out how costs should be treated in any proceedings that may be brought against authorised staff in future. I believe these regulations provide clarity, certainty and consistency for courts managing payments of these costs in future, so I commend this instrument to the House.