My Lords, I do not think I can add very much to the points that have already been made on the difficulties which this proposal is likely to give rise to, except to say that one has to remember that hearings in criminal trials take a very long time. I do not know whether we, who have never had to be instructed in sign language, are able to tell whether a deaf juror can maintain concentration by that method throughout the entire day that the trial goes on, and indeed whether the interpreter can conduct that process throughout the entire day without relief. Maybe you would have to have another interpreter to come and take over after a reasonable interval, as you often had to do with shorthand writers in the days when they were used.
7.15 pm
I absolutely understand the points that have been made with great force, particularly by my noble and learned friend Lord Judge. On the other hand, I think I understand where the Government are coming from, if I can put it this way. We have to face the fact that disability is not itself a ground for exemption from jury service. That extends to all disabilities, whatever they are. I think there is an obligation under the Equality Act on a public institution such as we are dealing with here to take all reasonable steps to assist those who are willing to serve as jurors and are suffering from a disability. Of course, that is relatively easy if you are dealing with somebody who cannot walk properly, is paraplegic, or has a disability of that kind, but it becomes much more difficult when you are dealing with a blind juror, and even more difficult, I suggest, with a deaf juror.
I add to those comments something about other jurisdictions; the jurisdiction I am familiar with is Scotland. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service conducted a survey and made some proposals in a document called Enabling Jury Service, which was
published in February 2018. Having looked at the Equality Act and the fact that disability is not a ground for exemption, it concluded that certain steps should be taken to fulfil what it regarded as the requirements of that Act. One recommendation relevant to our discussion was that
“consideration be given to amending current legislation to enable the presence of additional approved persons to be present in the jury room during the jury deliberations; furthermore that consideration be given to prescribing a specific form of additional oath for this purpose.”
A further recommendation was
“that the final decision relating to the suitability of proceedings, in which a particular juror may serve, based on the court’s ability to set in place a suitable and reasonable adjustment, and having considered the nature of the evidence to be led, will be one of the presiding judge, and that a suitable statutory power to this effect be created.”
Those recommendations are rather superficial compared with the very detailed provision set out in this clause, but the Scottish service did apply its mind to this possibility.
However, that report was issued in February 2018 and, so far as I can discover, no steps have been taken to amend the legislation to enable these recommendations to be put into effect. I suggest to the Minister that he should make inquiries as to why that has happened. It may be that the Scottish service concluded, for the reasons that have been given so forcefully by other noble Lords, that the difficulties are so insurmountable that one can never imagine a judge giving permission. What is the point of the clause if, to be realistic, no judge having regard to the interests of justice and all its accommodating factors could possibly authorise this juror to sit?
I can see where the Minister is coming from, but one has to ask whether there is a realistic prospect of any judge applying his or her mind to the interests of justice ever giving sanction for this to take place—in which case, it may be that this clause is simply not worth the paper it is written on.