Transfer of Functions of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal Order 2009

My Lords, I apologise for using an inappropriate form of address. I shall scrutinise my speeches with even more care in the future to make sure that does not happen. I had the same thought as the noble Lord, Lord Henley—can there be any more of these orders? We are considering how best to transfer the remaining tribunals, many of which have few or no cases, and will do so when the benefits for users and the Tribunals Service can be gained. We have one further appeal to consider under the Transport Tribunal, which was not transferred, and I will consider when to bring this forward. Are they the last? I think the answer is that they are almost the last. I share the noble Lord’s reaction. Would it not have been possible to have put all the transfers into one order? A large number of tribunals have been transferred. Perhaps it is slightly unfair to call it a messy system, but this Act addressed a very diverse system, and it has been appropriate to do this in phases, with more than one order, to ensure that the system could properly support the transfers. The points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, seem to be generally welcoming. I did say the systems were designed to bring the applicant to the centre of the system. As he pointed out, we responded to consultation and transferred the rule-making process from the Lord Chancellor to the Procedure Committee. I think the noble Lord was responding, in a sense, to a Procedure Committee consultation of 21 November, and I acknowledge the importance of the points he made. Equally, given their importance, it would be much more satisfactory if I were to respond to them in writing, which would give officials and Ministers time to consider his points in some depth. Motion agreed.