HL Deb 27 October 1982 vol 435 cc483-5

2.51 p.m.

Lord Gardiner

My 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 is their response to the Justice Report on Compensation for Wrongful Imprisonment.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Elton)

My Lords, we have studied the proposals contained in this report with interest. We have also studied other proposals for changes in this part of the law. However we have not yet decided how to respond to them. The Select Committee on Home Affairs in another place is at present conducting an inquiry of its own into procedures for the investigation of possible miscarriages of justice. This includes the way in which claims for compensation are dealt with, and we do not wish to anticipate their report.

My Lords, if I may add to that Answer, your Lordships may detect a certain fitness in the spectacle of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Gardiner, pursuing uninterruptedly the cause of justice as he sees it, when I tell your Lordships that today is, I am told, the day on which he retires from his 12 years presidency of the Howard League, of which he has, I believe, been a distinguished member since about 1945. I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on that notable contribution to public life.

Lord Gardiner

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask him whether he would be prepared to receive, and discuss these matters with, a deputation from Justice?

Lord Elton

My Lords, while not closing the door on that offer, which I should like to consider, it might be that it would be more appropriate to do so when the report of the Select Committee is available, but I shall take that on board and write to the noble and learned Lord.

Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that there is a good deal of worry in our circles—I speak of the Howard League which, as the noble Lord, Lord Elton, said, the noble and learned Lord has headed in such a distinguished way, and other organisations—because the Justice Report to which this Question refers says unequivocally in its first two recommendations that this country is out of line with Article 14(6) of the United Nations international covenant on civil and political rights? I think myself—and I hope that the noble Lord will perhaps agree, though I doubt it rather—that his reply was very lukewarm in relation to an actual breach of this kind.

Lord Elton

My Lords, it was lukewarm in that the Government share the views of previous Administrations that present arrangements are not in fact in breach of Article 14(6) of the covenant.

Lord Elwyn-Jones

My Lords, will the terms of reference of the Select Committee include consideration and analysis of what is done in other countries of a similar standard of justice and civilisation?

Lord Elton

My Lords, in response to an earlier Question by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Gardiner, we have collected data on what is being done in Western European countries, which we are reflecting on at the moment. The terms of reference of the Committee, of course, were settled some time ago, as it is now in session.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, in cases where capital punishment has been carried out and subsequent posthumous pardons have been made, would such instances come within the compass of this review?

Lord Elton

My Lords, I am not entirely certain that I grasped the purport of the noble Lord's question. The Article is concerned, as is the Question, with the paying of compensation to people convicted of crimes and subsequently pardoned, whether posthumously or not, as I understand it. The Article refers to people convicted by a final decision. Therefore, if the decision was a final decision of the court and the person subsequently died, I should think, subject to advice, that they would be embraced by the convention.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, the point I had in mind was where a person was arrested and was not necessarily in prison but, in the days of capital punishment, had his life taken from him, and later on it was discovered that he was innocent. Ought not such cases also to come within the compass of this review? When a posthumous pardon has been issued by Her Majesty and we, as a nation, have committed the unfortunate crime of hanging the wrong person, ought not some award be made to the wife, children, whoever it might be, of such a person?

Lord Elton

My Lords, in view of the length of time since capital punishment was the law in this country, I think the question is relatively hypothetical.

Baroness Wootton of Abinger

My Lords, is it the fact that the Select Committee is confining its inquiries to Western Europe, or to the Western world? May I suggest that they might have something to learn from Japan in this context?

Lord Elton

My Lords, when I referred to Western Europe, I was referring to inquiries of our own in the Home Department in response to the earlier Question of the noble and learned Lord. It is not for the Government in fact to dictate to a Select Committee what evidence it shall take.

Baroness Wootton of Abinger

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware whether the Select Committee is making inquiries over a wider area than the Western world?

Lord Elton

My Lords, if it is proper for me so to do, I shall inquire and let the noble Baroness know.