Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Kingsland and Lord Newton, for raising this issue. We have based what is in the Bill on the Cabinet Office guidance on the establishment of non-departmental public bodies. As the noble Lord, Lord Newton, knows, the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council will be an advisory NDPB, as was the Council on Tribunals. Let me say out loud, as it were, what the guidance says. It was published in 2006 and states: "““The statute or instrument creating an NDPB or conferring the relevant functions on it, should normally provide suitable powers of appointment and dismissal over the Chairman and board members. Grounds for dismissal normally include criminal behaviour, poor performance and other grounds which make members unable or unfit to discharge the functions of the body””." The purpose behind paragraph 3(5) of Schedule 7 is to provide for the removal of appointees on the grounds of inability or misbehaviour. I am confident that this formulation is wide enough to cover the point that has been raised. Indeed, noble Lords have not queried it in that sense. The guidance goes on to state: "““Except in the case of tribunal NDPBs the statute should also provide for a power for the removal from office without assigning cause, on the giving of notice by the Secretary of State, with associated power for compensation to be paid””." I reiterate that the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council does not fall into the category of a tribunal NDPB—it will be an advisory NDPB—so, in that sense, it is not excluded from the guidance and responding to it. That is why the provision concerning removal without cause is in the Bill. The Committee will know that this is about enabling us to remove people if they are not performing their functions adequately. Even though the noble Lords, Lord Kingsland and Lord Newton, have not suggested this, I hasten to add, very firmly, that it is not meant to interfere with the independence of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. Having said that, I see the point that has been raised and I would like, if I might, to go away and reconsider whether we need those words in the Bill. If noble Lords will allow me to discuss it with those who have given me the guidance, to make sure that I can do something about it, I should like to be given the opportunity to do so.