My Lords, the Committee is considering the two draft orders: the Amendments to Schedule 6 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act Order 2013, which I will refer to as the amendments order, and the Transfer of Tribunal Functions Order 2013, which I will refer to as the transfer order.
The orders before us today are part of a series that facilitate the transfer of the functions of a range of tribunals into the First-tier and Upper Tribunals. These orders will enable us to establish a new chamber in the First-tier Tribunal, which will be known as the Property Chamber and will transfer the functions of a range of tribunals into the unified tribunal structure. The Property Chamber will deal with land registration, residential and leasehold property, rent and housing matters and in relation to park—that is, mobile—homes. Subject to parliamentary approval, it will be launched on 1 July 2013.
The purpose of the draft amendments order is to add the rent assessment committees and the agricultural land tribunals to the relevant parts of Schedule 6 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. That schedule lists the tribunals that can be transferred into the unified tribunal structure; in this instance, into the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. It is the addition of these tribunals into the appropriate parts of the schedule that activates the powers of the Lord Chancellor to transfer their functions into the tribunals.
Transferring the functions is the purpose of the second draft order, the transfer order. It will transfer to the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal the functions of residential property tribunals, leasehold valuation tribunals, rent tribunals and rent assessment committees—which are composed from the members of rent assessment panels—in England; the agricultural land tribunal in England; and the Adjudicator to Her Majesty’s Land Registry in England and Wales.
It might be worth me going into some detail about why the Government are taking this action and why it is necessary. I think it would be helpful to give some background to tribunals in general and the Property Chamber in particular. Over the past few decades, a number of tribunals have been created to bring together specialist knowledge and expertise to resolve disputes, but they were first recognised as part of the justice system of the United Kingdom in the Franks report of 1957. From then until the turn of this century, a network of tribunals evolved, each with different rules of procedure, with varying powers and different sponsoring government departments.
It was apparent that this haphazard approach to creating tribunals was neither efficient nor economical. In 2004, the Government, through the Lord Chancellor, invited Sir Andrew Leggatt, a former Lord Justice of Appeal,
“to review the delivery of justice through Tribunals”
in England and Wales. The Leggatt report was the result of the review. The report recommended extensive reforms and set out a programme for developing a
unified tribunals system. Following the report, the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 was passed to implement its recommendations. This Act established a two-tier tribunal system, independent from decision-making government bodies, with a First-tier Tribunal and an Upper Tribunal. The Act also provided a number of powers to effect the transfer of existing tribunals or direct new appeal rights into this system.
A system of chambers was established within the two-tier structure, which enabled specialist tribunals with related jurisdictions to be brought together. This arrangement brings a number of benefits by providing cohesion and consistency within the system and allows judges and panel members to be deployed across jurisdictions as appropriate. From November 2008, the Upper Tribunal and the First-tier Tribunal took over the jurisdictions of a number of existing tribunals. Since then, further tribunals have been brought into the new system.
We are now at the stage where a unified tribunals system is almost completed. There are now are six chambers in the First-tier Tribunal and four chambers in the Upper Tribunal. In 2011-12, almost 740,000 applications or claims were received by tribunals. In the same year, more than 730,000 cases were disposed of. The matters dealt with by tribunals are wide-ranging, and cases range from those that can be determined on paper to those that are complex and involved and take a number of days to hear the issues.
When the Property Chamber is launched in July it will be the seventh chamber in the First–tier Tribunal and will bring together jurisdictions concerned with property and lands. These are residential property tribunals, leasehold valuation tribunals, rent tribunals and rent assessment committees—all which are composed from the members of rent assessment panels—the agricultural land tribunals and the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry.
What will happen to these three tribunals when the Property Chamber is launched? In short, they will cease to have any functions in England, although they will continue as before in Wales. Their jurisdictions will be transferred into the new tribunal. All the judicial office holders and panel members in post at the point of the transfer will become a transferred-in judge or member of the new tribunal. These jurisdictions deal with a wide and diverse range of issues, some of which are technical and complex. They include cases concerning residential property, including rent, park homes and leasehold disputes, issues over agricultural land and disputes about registered land in England and Wales, most of which will be referred to it by the Land Registry.
Why is the Property Chamber being created? Currently, the three jurisdictions that will transfer into the chamber operate independently of each other. They have their own sets of procedural rules, different terms and conditions for office holders and administrative staff, various locations and diverse practices. The benefits of creating the chamber are clear: it will be the centre of expertise for matters relating to land, property and housing; it will bring greater consistency in decision-making and effective case management, with one set
of rules for all the jurisdictions; there will be administrative efficiency leading to a reduction in costs; it will enable good practice to be spread across the jurisdictions, also leading to greater efficiency; it will allow more flexible and efficient judicial deployment; and it will deliver administrative efficiency, leading to a reduction in costs.
There is no doubt that the creation of the Property Chamber in the First-tier Tribunal and the transfer of the jurisdictions into the chamber will mark a significant milestone in the achievement of the long-held vision of a unified Tribunals Service. It will signify a further step in delivering the chamber structure within the First-tier Tribunal, as envisaged by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. I therefore commend these draft orders to the Committee, and I beg to move.