Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 27: 27: After Clause 32 , insert the following new Clause— ““Power to provide for appeal to Upper Tribunal from tribunals in Northern Ireland (1) Subsection (2) applies if— (a) a function is transferred under section 29(1)(a), (c), (d) or (e) in relation to England (whether or not also in relation to Wales) but is not transferred under section 29(1) in relation to Northern Ireland, (b) an appeal may be made to the Upper Tribunal against any decision, or any decision of a particular description, made in exercising the transferred function in relation to England, and (c) no appeal may be made against a corresponding decision made in exercising the function in relation to Northern Ireland. (2) The Lord Chancellor may by order provide for an appeal against any such corresponding decision to be made to the Upper Tribunal. (3) An order under subsection (2)— (a) may include provision for the purposes of or in consequence of, or for giving full effect to, provision made by the order; (b) may include such incidental, supplemental, transitional or consequential provision or savings as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit. (4) An order under subsection (2) does not cease to have effect, and power to vary or revoke the order does not cease to be exercisable, just because either or each of the conditions in subsection (1)(b) and (c) ceases to be satisfied in relation to the function and decisions concerned.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 27 I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 35, 40, 41, 97 and 98. These amendments are minor and technical changes to the tribunals provisions of the Bill. Amendments Nos. 27 and 40 provide for a new appeal right to the upper tribunal from tribunals in Northern Ireland in circumstances where the equivalent to tribunals in England and Wales have been transferred to the first-tier tribunal, and where there is a new appeal right to the upper tribunal in England and Wales. Similar provisions have already been made in the Bill for Scotland. Clause 32 provides a power where a jurisdiction is transferred to the new tribunals under Clause 29 and such a jurisdiction is not transferred in relation to Scotland for the Lord Chancellor to provide by order for an appeal to the upper tribunal against a corresponding Scottish decision. It is now clear that a similar situation may arise in Northern Ireland, and Amendment No. 27 makes the necessary provision. Amendment No. 40 will ensure that any order made under this clause by the Lord Chancellor will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, as are orders made under Clause 32 in relation to Scotland. Amendment No. 31 corrects a small but crucial error in the drafting of Clause 35. As currently drafted, Clause 35 would prevent existing tribunals being added to the lists of tribunals which can be transferred in Schedule 6. This is wrong. Our policy has always been that tribunals created before the Bill is passed will be eligible for transfer into the new system. That position is reflected in the Explanatory Notes. Amendment No. 31 corrects the error in the Bill, ensuring that only tribunals created by legislation after the Bill has passed will be precluded from being added to the lists. If the first-tier or upper tribunal is to have jurisdiction created by later legislation, it will need to be conferred by that later legislation rather than transferred using the machinery of Clause 35. Amendment No. 41 is a result of the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. The committee pointed out that the powers to make orders subject to no parliamentary procedure include powers in Clause 30(2), (7) and (9), and in paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 9. The committee considered that, although these powers might be considered transitional in nature, they should be subject to negative procedure. Clause 30 gives my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor a number of powers to enable the transfer of a tribunal to one of the two new tribunals. Clause 30(2) enables him to provide that, where a tribunal is abolished, judicial office-holders are mapped to one of the new judicial offices within either the first-tier or the upper tribunal. Clause 30(7) enables the Lord Chancellor to provide, by order, for the continuation of procedural rules following a transfer of functions, so that the jurisdiction can function within the new structure prior to the abolition of the original tribunal. Clause 30(9) allows him to make, by order, such incidental, supplemental, transitional or consequential provision or provision for savings as he thinks fit. Paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 9 gives him the power to make provision for a member of a listed tribunal to be considered for appointment by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales to the tribunal procedure committee. The Government accept the recommendation of the Delegated Powers Committee that these powers should be subject to the negative procedure. Amendment No. 41 makes the necessary change to Clause 46. Amendments Nos. 97 and 98 alter the extent clause, which is Clause 138, so that Clause 134 extends to the Isle of Man. Clause 134 abolishes the Registered Designs Appeal Tribunal and diverts its jurisdiction to the Patents County Court and the High Court. We were unable to secure the formal consent of the Isle of Man Government to this clause in time for the introduction of the Bill because of their general election, but they have now indicated that they are content. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clause 33 [Transfer of Ministerial responsibilities for certain tribunals]: