HC Deb 19 April 2004 vol 420 cc2-3W
Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the process by which High Court judges are(a) selected and (b) appointed. [165612]

Mr. Leslie

My noble and learned Friend the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor recommends to Her Majesty those candidates who best meet the published criteria for appointment to the High Court Bench.

Recommendations are based on the results of the recent selection round. Advertisements in the national and legal press in July 2003 invited applications for appointment to the High Court. In addition, the senior judiciary were invited to nominate candidates. A wide consultation exercise sought evidence from senior judges and others to the extent to which all candidates met the criteria. This evidence was assessed by independent sifters and moderated by senior civil servants who then submitted advice to the Lord Chancellor and senior judiciary on the degree to which candidates met the criteria for appointment. After discussing that advice with the senior judiciary, the Lord Chancellor decided on a list of candidates considered to be appointable to the High Court.

Individual recommendations about appointment to the High Court are made by the Lord Chancellor, after consulting the senior judiciary, from those classified as appointable and having regard to the specific needs of the High Court at the relevant time.

Mr. Rosindell

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the Department's proposals for the selection and appointment of High Court judges. [165615]

Mr. Leslie

The Constitutional Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, will establish a Judicial Appointments Commission. The Commission will be responsible for selecting candidates for appointment as High Court judges, as well as other judicial appointments. The manner in which the Commission does so will be for it to determine, subject to the overriding criterion that selection must be on merit, and subject to any guidance which the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs may issue, for example, in requiring the Commission to seek to expand the pool of candidates from which a selection may be made.

Having made its selection, the Commission will put forward one name for each post to the Secretary of State. He will normally be expected to recommend that candidate for appointment to the Queen, but he will have limited powers to ask the Commission to reconsider, once, or to reject a particular candidate, once, or to require the selection process to be rerun. The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs will have no power to recommend to Her Majesty the appointment of a candidate of his own, who has not been selected by the Commission.