§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps have been taken to implement Section 7(5) of the Administration of Justice Act, 1964, under which the legally qualified chairman of a court of quarter sessions for a London commission area should sit alone only if no other members of the court are available.]
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD GARDINER)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government are not aware that any difficulty has arisen in implementing Section 7(5) of the Administration of Justice Act, 1964, anywhere in the country save in the case of the Inner London area where many of the justices have indicated that, owing to the increase in their work which has occurred recently, they are unable to attend quarter sessions in addition to sitting in their pettly sessional courts. In order to deal with this problem I have just appointed an additional 40 justices to the Inner London Commission and I propose to appoint a further 50 as soon as suitable candidates can be obtained. I hope that this will ensure that the courts of quarter session in Inner London will normally be composed of lay justices in addition to the legally qualified chairmen. The Clerk of the Peace for Inner London is at present compiling a list of all those justices who are able and willing to sit at quarter sessions and arrangements will be made for these justices to attend the sessions as frequently as possible.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I am extremely obliged to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor for his reply, but particularly for the information that steps are being taken to bring the Inner London courts into line with those in the rest of the country. Is the noble and learned Lord aware that the opinions of existing justices, as to their ability to sit at quarter sessions, have been asked for only in the past week, and it is therefore hardly possible to say that the present members of the Justices Panel have indicated in large numbers their inability to sit?
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, as the noble Baroness knows, Inner London has been, in a sense, in a state of reorganisation, and it has been necessary to find and appoint additional justices as indicated. When this has been done, and when we have ascertained which justices can sit at quarter sessions, I think the position will be as she desires it to be.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I am obliged to the noble and learned Lord.