THE COMMISSION (Hansard, 26 April 1995)

§ Mr. Nicholas Baker
I beg to move amendment No. 30, in page 7, line 33, leave out '(which for this purpose' and insert 'and of them at least one shall be a person who appears to him to have knowledge or experience of any aspect of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland; and for the purposes of this subsection the criminal justice system'.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Morris)
With this, it will be convenient to discuss also amendment No. 20, in page 7, line 35, at end insert— '(6A) At least one of the members appointed under subsection (6) above shall be a person who appears to the prime Minister to have sufficient knowledge or experience of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland.'.

§ Mr. Baker
During our discussions in Committee on qualification for membership of the commission, I agreed to look further at whether the Bill could be amended to provide for one member of the commission to have knowledge and experience of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. As hon. Members know, it has always been our intention that the commission should include at least one member with just such experience and we see merit in making that clear in the Bill, not least in the light of the discussions initiated by the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. Trimble). Amendment No. 30 is the result of our deliberations on how best to do that and I commend it to the House.

§ Mr. Trimble
I rise simply to thank the Minister on this occasion for accepting an amendment which I tabled in Committee. I am very glad that he has had the good sense to accept what I said. I simply regret yet again that he did not have the good sense to accept what I said a few moments ago.