HL Deb 13 May 2004 vol 661 c47WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In relation to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission:

  1. (a) why the Secretary of State has not filled vacancies on the commission, including some dating back to September 2002;
  2. (b) whether it is true that vacancies will not be filled before March 2005; and, if so, why; and
  3. (c) why they have not issued a definitive response to the commission's Review of Powers, submitted in 2001; and when they intend to reply. [HL2252]

Baroness Amos

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 does not specify any set number of commissioners to serve on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Section 68(3) states that the Secretary of State shall as far as practicable secure that the commissioners, as a group, are representative of the community in Northern Ireland.

There will he an announcement shortly regarding appointments to the commission, which will set out in detail how we intend to proceed.

We put our response to the commission's review of its powers out to consultation in May 2002 but significant parties were slow to respond. The Joint Declaration committed us to bring that consultation to a close as soon as possible after restoration of the Assembly, but more recently it was brought forward to October 2003. The Assembly election in November and late contributions for parties held this up.