§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the implications of the case of Hayesv. Attorney-General for the secret soundings system in the appointment of silk; and if he will make a statement. [87806]
§ Mr. VazThere is no 'secret soundings' system for the appointment of silks, and the Hayes case has no implications for the silk system.
The vacancy for Treasury Junior, for which Ms Hayes complained that she should have been considered, was not advertised. Applications for silk, however, are openly invited by published advertisement and all applicants are judged equally, on their merits alone, according to published criteria. The list of successful applicants is published, together with a complete statistical breakdown of applications and appointments. Unsuccessful applicants are invited to speak to a senior member of the Lord Chancellor's Department for feedback on their application; nearly 140 have already taken up this invitation this year. In addition, officials are always willing to discuss the principles, policies and procedures of the silk system.
The information which, together with the application forms, informs the Lord Chancellor's decisions on silk is gathered through a comprehensive and detailed consultation system. The guide for consultees is publicly available; this explains the Lord Chancellor's policies and criteria, according to which consultees are asked to comment. A list of all those whom the Lord Chancellor consults is also published, and applicants may nominate additional consultees if they feel that the wider consultation community is not able to give the Lord Chancellor 323W sufficient information about their suitability for silk. Almost all consultation is carried out in writing, to ensure that consultees focus on the published criteria. As an indication of the scale of this exercise, this year's silk round involved consultation with over 425 general consultees and correspondence with over 500 nominated consultees, who in total submitted over 4,600 comments to the Lord Chancellor.
The silk system is not, therefore, secret. The comments are, of course, confidential, for reasons which Parliament accepted in the Home Affairs Select Committee Report on Judicial Appointments Procedures in 1996 and in the Data Protection Act 1998. Even given that, however, applicants will be invited to respond to any comment which alleges misconduct, even if this involves identifying the accuser (if the accuser is unwilling to stand by his accusation in this way, the Lord Chancellor will ignore the allegation). In addition, the substance of the comments will, while respecting their confidentiality, be freely discussed with unsuccessful applicants who ask for feedback on their application.