Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 5: 5: Clause 9 , page 6, line 10, at end insert— ““( ) Tribunal Procedure Rules may— (a) provide that the First-tier Tribunal may not under subsection (1) review (whether of its own initiative or on application under subsection (2)(b)) a decision of a description specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules; (b) provide that the First-tier Tribunal’s power under subsection (1) to review a decision of a description specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules is exercisable only of the tribunal’s own initiative; (c) provide that an application under subsection (2)(b) that is of a description specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules may be made only on grounds specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules; (d) provide, in relation to a decision of a description specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules, that the First-tier Tribunal’s power under subsection (1) to review the decision of its own initiative is exercisable only on grounds specified for the purposes of this paragraph in Tribunal Procedure Rules.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 5 I shall also speak to Amendment No. 6. These amendments relate to Clauses 9 and 10, and make the powers of the first-tier and upper tribunals to review their own decisions subject to tribunal procedure rules. The tribunals committee will thus be able to restrict review where that is appropriate. As I explained in Grand Committee to the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, when he moved his Amendment No. 38, the purpose of the review power is to enable the swift and easy correction of accidental errors without putting users to the trouble of an appeal. However, the noble Lord was concerned that the powers should be relatively narrow in their effect, and we have been thinking about whether, as currently drafted, they are rather wide. We have also thought further about whether there is any potential for abuse of the powers by vexatious or delaying litigants. We have concluded that there needs to be provision for more specific criteria for exercise of the review power. The need may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so we have concluded that the right way to approach this is to give the Tribunals Procedure Committee the power to set the criteria. With existing tribunals it is not unusual for legislation to allow criteria to be set in rules; the employment tribunals and the Special Educational Needs Tribunal are examples. Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 therefore make the necessary adjustments to Clauses 9 and 10. They will allow tribunal rules to exclude from review decisions of a description specified in the rules, whether by the tribunal of its initiative or on abdication by the parties. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clause 10 [Review of decision of Upper Tribunal]: