I start by thanking all noble Lords who have contributed to this short debate. I appreciate the support that has come from all quarters, starting with the noble Lords, Lord Browne of Belmont and Lord Hay, and the noble Baronesses,
Lady Ritchie and Lady Hoey. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Marks, for his support—although I noted that he made the point that it was with some reluctance that he supported the case in this order for a two-year extension.
As I said at the outset, this is an exceptional system—as the noble Lord, Lord Browne, mentioned too—used in only very limited circumstances. There is rightly a presumption for jury trial in all cases. As I have already said, non-jury trials account for less than 2% of all Crown Court cases in Northern Ireland.
The threat from terrorism in Northern Ireland remains severe—the noble Lord, Lord Hay, spoke eloquently about this, as did the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie—and it has been at the same level for more than 10 years. However, the Government remain committed to tackling the threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism and to supporting the Northern Ireland Executive’s programme to tackle paramilitarism. But we believe that further progress on the security situation is required before we can be confident that these non-jury trial provisions are no longer required. As I said earlier, I think that here I am echoing the views from this debate.
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, for her eloquent views on this matter. She is right that the way forward in Northern Ireland is strong political dialogue and discourse to provide political stability. That is so necessary, and I know that she is working very hard on that, as are many others involved in politics in Northern Ireland.
Having listened to this debate, I shall focus my remarks on the working group. I hope that I will be able to answer questions on it, as I think it is an open door for the way forward. Before I start, I want to pick up on something that the noble Lord, Lord Marks, said. He was right that there were 13 responses to the consultation, down by two on the previous occasion in 2019, and the vast majority were in favour of what the Government have decided to do. It is right to point out that the Bar of Northern Ireland was not wholly in favour and produced some points—which I shall not go through today—but David Mulholland, who produced the response, said he was supportive of the working group, would welcome dialogue with stakeholders and would like clarification from the Northern Ireland Office on the timeframe. I shall give a short response on that in a moment.
As I have said, the UK Government continue to be committed to bringing an end to these provisions. As indicated by the majority of consultation responses, the time is not right for this now. However, the working group will assist in pursuing this aim. Following this consultation, the Secretary of State decided, as we know, that a working group should be convened to identify practical measures that could be taken to reduce the number of non-jury trials. During the renewal debate in 2019, noble Lords asked what criteria the Government would use to determine when the non-jury trial provisions were no longer needed, so the working group will also examine what indicators would assist in determining when it would be safe and compatible with the interests of justice to allow the provisions to expire.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, asked about future intentions in working with the Justice Minister. I hope I can reassure her that the Northern Ireland Department of Justice will be invited to participate in the working group. She also expressed concerns about fair trial. I will allude that in a moment. As the noble Baroness said, the seventh extension is here. However, we hope that it will be the last, and I want to say a little more about that.
The provisions were designed to be temporary and the Government remain fully committed to bringing them to an end when it is safe to do so and when it is compatible with the interests of justice. In order to work towards this, the Northern Ireland Office will establish a working group. The intention is that this group will identify practical measures that can reduce the number of non-jury trials. The responses to the consultation were highly supportive of the formation of this group.
The noble Baronesses, Lady Ritchie and Lady Hoey, and the noble Lord, Lord Marks, asked about a date. None of us wants to see the system in place for longer than is needed, but much depends on the security situation. The Government will keep the provisions under constant review. We introduced a further safeguard in 2017 requesting that the then independent reviewer of the JSA, David Seymour, review non-jury trials in his annual work. As was mentioned by other speakers in this debate, the new independent reviewer of the JSA, Marie Breen-Smyth, will keep the annual review of non-jury trial provisions in her remit.
Whether non-jury trials are fair was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie. We believe they are. The European Court of Human Rights guarantees fair trial; it does not guarantee jury trial. Every defendant facing a criminal charge is entitled to a fair trial. This principle remains where the trial is by judge alone. All defendants who are convicted of a crime have the right to seek an appeal. Under this system, only the mode of trial is changed. Non-jury trials deliver an equivalent quality of justice to jury trials. Where there is a risk of paramilitary or community-based pressures on a jury, they could actually be fairer.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, asked further questions about the working group. On the timescale, again, if the Motion passes through both Houses, the NIO will write to the proposed membership to convene the first meeting of the working group as soon as possible—hopefully this summer.
I want to clarify the term “associate”. The DPP is independent and makes a decision on meeting one of the conditions and on the suspicion of a risk to the administration of justice.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asked whether a judge can help with decisions and why a judge cannot decide whether a non-jury trial is needed. If a judicial process were adopted, it would take longer for decisions on the non-jury trial to be reached, delaying the administration of justice. We believe that the DPP is in the best position to make the assessment of risk that the decision will require. The decision is similar to that
on whether to prosecute. The DPP already makes decisions about mode of trial in Northern Ireland—that is, whether certain offences should be tried before a jury in the Crown Court or without a jury in the magistrates’ court.
The noble Baroness also asked about the decision to issue a non-jury trial certificate. Perhaps I can reassure her by saying that a non-jury trial is possible only when the DPP issues a certificate for a specific case in relation to a trial on indictment, as tried in the Crown Court. As I said earlier, decisions for non-jury trials are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the circumstances of both the offence and the defendant. Further, the decision for issuing a certificate is based on a two-stage test set out in Section 1(2) of the JSA. The DPP must, first, suspect that one or more of the four conditions is met and, secondly, be
“satisfied that … there is a risk that the administration of justice might be impaired if the trial were to be conducted with a jury”.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asked about a particular case. She will know that I cannot comment on any particular case, I am afraid. She also made points about transparency. Again, let me provide some reassurance. Since the provisions have been in place, the DPP has shown that he applies the statutory test stringently. Statistics provided by the PPS show that the DPP regularly rejects applications for non-jury trial certificates, evidencing the thorough consideration given before a certificate is granted. We can be confident that only exceptional cases are certified for non-jury trials.
I realise that time is running out. I conclude by thanking all noble Lords again for contributing to this short debate. I will of course study Hansard with my usual scrutiny, and will be pleased to write to noble Lords where I have not managed to answer any questions.