Criminal Cases Review Commission (Information) Bill

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 20th January 2016 Public Bill Committees

[William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main, and an honour to present the Bill to the Committee. We heard excellent speeches on Second Reading from several of my hon. Friends and the shadow Minister. I thank them heartily for their interventions, which were succinct and apposite—I could not have thought of better ones if I had tried.

I shall outline briefly the Bill’s purpose. In essence, it will redress a legislative oversight from 1995, when the Criminal Cases Review Commission was established. After some delay, it will give the commission much-needed powers to request evidence from private sources The CCRC is the non-executive body charged with investigating alleged miscarriages of justice, which involves it seeking a range of evidence and information, often going back years. Its skilled investigators, caseworkers and commissioners do this important work.

In the course of its work, the CCRC will look at information and evidence from a range of sources, including the police, the prison and probation services, the NHS, local authorities and other public sector sources. The power to request that information, subject to judicial safeguarding, is set out in section 17 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. However, sometimes the CCRC will also be interested in looking at information and evidence held by private sources, be they individual witnesses, solicitors, private security firms, private medical practitioners, or, increasingly, establishments that were once in the public sector, such as the Forensic Science Service. Until now, the CCRC has relied on co-operation and voluntary disclosure because it has no formal power to require evidence to be disclosed. The Bill therefore will amend the 1995 Act to allow the commission to subpoena evidence from private sources. Critically, as set out in clause 1(1), that power will be subject to the safeguards of judicial oversight and a Crown court order, so the CCRC could compel a private individual or organisation to provide material only by order of the court. Privacy is further protected under subsection (3).

The CCRC agrees that such a process will be appropriate. As with its current practice when preserving public body material under section 17 of the 1995 Act, the commission will not seek to exercise its functions unreasonably or disproportionately. Furthermore, the commission and the Ministry of Justice believe that having the power on the statue book will be enough to persuade many private bodies to co-operate with the CCRC voluntarily.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Mrs Main. The Opposition wholeheartedly welcome and fully support the amendments to the 1995 Act proposed in the Bill. Perhaps it would help our proceedings if I put my questions collectively at the end and allow the clauses to be taken formally. Is that possible?

[The Chair]

Yes, if that is acceptable. We can move on to clause 2, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would like to put his questions before he agrees to clause 1.

[Wayne David]

My suggestion was that I put all my questions collectively at the end of the presentation of the clauses so that we can have a general debate, rather than specific debates on each clause.

[The Chair]

I shall therefore put the Question.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 1 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 2

Extent, commencement and short title

Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Chair]

I suggest that Mr David makes all his points now because this is the final opportunity for debate on the Bill.

[Wayne David]

The broad range of support for the Bill is impressive. Indeed, the measure not only is supported by the Government and the Opposition, but has a ringing endorsement from the Justice Committee, while the Criminal Cases Review Commission also supports it. Dare I say there that is almost an unholy alliance supporting the Bill? We are certainly not going to demur from that support.

As the hon. Gentleman explained, this modest but important Bill is needed to deal with a clear anomaly in the original 1995 Act. The explanatory notes to the Bill clearly state:

“Section 17 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 gives the CCRC the power to require public bodies to disclose and provide the documents or other material which may assist them in discharging their functions”,

but does not provide for the CCRC to require

“private organisations and individuals to do so.”

That is what this important piece of legislation is all about.

The explanatory notes also refer to the Forensic Science Service, as did the hon. Gentleman, and it is interesting that emphasis is placed on that body. Of course, it was a public body before it was privatised, but I wonder whether slightly undue emphasis is placed on it, because the Bill will apply to private individuals and organisations right across the board.

Some have suggested that the Bill might place an onerous responsibility, and indeed considerable cost, on private organisations and individuals. Private solicitors have said that it will place an enormous burden on them at a time when they are under great strain due to changes to the legal system, cuts in legal aid and so on. Has the hon. Gentleman quantified the increased burden that the new responsibility will put on solicitors in particular, and individuals and organisations in the private sector generally?

On costs and burdens, I wonder if something could be said about the Criminal Cases Review Commission itself. I understand that the body is funded by grant in aid from the Ministry of Justice. In 2014-15, the funding was £5.67 million, which is not a huge amount, given the importance of the CCRC’s work. In the past decade, however, its budget has reduced by some 30%, yet there has been a 70% increase in its workload. I presume that the CCRC’s new power will lead to greater responsibility and seriousness, with perhaps more cases coming forward, and therefore an increased workload. Has any estimate been made of the extent to which the Bill will increase the commission’s workload? Have the Government considered increasing the commission’s funding as a consequence of the Bill? Obviously, the hon. Gentleman does not speak on behalf of the Government, but I wonder if the thorny issue of money has been discussed with the appropriate Minister in the Department during the detailed negotiations and consultations about the Bill.

Our inclination is to support the Bill. We think that it is important and that it deals with an anomaly, but we would like clarification on my specific points.

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

I am reading section 17 of the 1995 Act and wondering about the penalties for non-disclosure. That is not covered in the Bill, and given that it extends the CCRC’s powers to the private sector, I am genuinely interested in what will happen if the private sector refuses a request.

[Wayne David]

I would be interested to know that as well. At the moment, the public sector has a legal responsibility to provide the information. The hon. Member for Hazel Grove said on Second Reading that it is not uncommon for the private sector to co-operate, but that is a very vague statement. We want precision and obligation. Private sector organisations and individuals will have a responsibility to comply, and I will be interested to hear what the hon. Gentleman says about possible sanctions or penalties if their co-operation is not forthcoming.