§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whom the Judicial Appointments Commission will consist of. [185022]
§ Mr. LeslieSchedule 12 of the Constitutional Reform Bill provides that the Commission will consist of a lay chairman, five judicial members, two professional members (a barrister and a solicitor), five lay members, a tribunal (or similar) member and a lay justice.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the planned costs are of the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission. [185040]
§ Mr. LeslieOur estimate for the annual running cost of the Judicial Appointments Commission is –8.5 million per year, reducing to £8 million, from 2008–09 due to its planned partial relocation out of London and the south-east.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when the Judicial Appointments Commission will be set up. [185041]
§ Mr. LeslieThe timetable for the setting up of the Commission is dependent on the passage of the Constitutional Reform Bill through Parliament. If the Bill receives Royal Assent by spring 2005, we would aim to launch the Commission in spring 2006.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposed establishment of an independent Judicial Appointments Commission. [185042]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Constitutional Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, will establish a Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales. The Commission will be responsible for selecting candidates for judicial appointment. 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.
374W