Speeches by Sackman.

“I understand the concerns that have been raised about the time taken to deliver a reasoned judgment, but I take Members back to what we heard at the oral evidence session, where a panel of senior judges, and in particular a former recorder of Liverpool, confirmed that they do not expect providing verdicts, including re…”

“I think I did clarify; I do not think I have anything more to say. I clarified it in answer to the hon. Member for Wimbledon. I am not going to say anything more; I think we should go to a vote.”

“Amendment 31 would add additional offences involving death to the list of homicide offences that are specifically excluded from the judge-alone framework for complex and lengthy cases under clause 4. I say at the outset that I understand the intent behind the amendment, and I certainly do not underestimate the impact o…”

“I will address amendments 50 and 48 together. The cases that we are considering in the context of clause 4, which involve fraud and serious financial crime, are, as I have said, among the longest and most demanding trials in the Crown court, routinely running for many weeks and often months. Cases can, and sometimes do…”

“The suggestion was that in the vast majority of cases, reasons could be given immediately.”

“I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 6, page 16, line 2, at end insert— “( ) in subsection (1)— (i) after ‘imposes’ insert ‘, in respect of two or more offences,’; (ii) for the words from ‘exceed’ to the end substitute ‘exceed— (a) where each of the offences is a summary offence, 6 months; (b) in any other case, the l…”

“Mode of trial decisions of that kind are procedural in nature—they are case-management decisions—and are intended to ensure that cases are tried efficiently and fairly and managed proportionately. The absence of a route of appeal in that context is designed precisely to promote procedural finality and to avoid delay in…”

“I also thank my hon. Friend for tabling amendment 30, which would introduce a new right of appeal against a decision to order a judge-only trial. The Government do not consider that to be either necessary or appropriate, for many of the same reasons that we do not afford a route of appeal in allocation decisions to the…”

“The amendment would effectively introduce a new right of appeal against a decision to order a judge-only trial. Once again the Government does not consider that to be necessary in the interests of fairness, or appropriate given the time saving this Bill seeks to achieve. We are seeking, by the process set out in clause…”

“Placing control of eligibility for judge-only trials into the hands of the parties, rather than the judge, runs counter to the objectives of this reform package and fails to support fair and effective trial management. For those reasons, I urge my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South and Walkden not to press the ame…”

“Against that reality, I cannot see how a rigid threshold of five months could capture all the cases that would most appropriately benefit from the treatment this policy affords of having a judge-only trial in certain categories of offence prescribed under the Bill.”

““problems can arise when trials unexpectedly go beyond their predicted trial time”.”

“We regard five months as an artificial and overly rigid threshold. We consider that the way in which the test is currently drafted affords the court greater discretion and flexibility. As Sir Brian rightly makes clear in his report, there can be no absolutely precise way of predicting, at the outset of a case, exactly …”

“Since the Secretary of State’s words were written, progress has been achieved. The criminal justice datasets include the equalities data published by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Judicial Appointments Commission, and all that rightly shines a light on the disparities…”

“That is what we are doing here. Bringing decisions out into the open achieves two things at once: first, it encourages individuals to check their own biases, and secondly, it helps to identify and correct them. In practice, that can mean different things in different settings, from publishing more data to allowing outs…”

““The best way to ensure fair, equal treatment is to subject decision-making to scrutiny”.”

“One of the core messages of the Secretary of State for Justice’s review, colloquially known as the Lammy review, was that openness, transparency and accountability are the best antidotes to bias. He said:”

“I am not going to give way. For all those reasons, I commend the clause to the Committee. Question put, That the clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill.”

“I am going to make some progress— I know the hon. Gentleman has raised this with me. Those responsible for drafting the legislation do not need to add further definitions of what we mean by “complex” and “lengthy”. That is well understood. As I said, given the other safeguards and considerations related to the kinds of…”

“I thank the hon. Member for her point, which has been raised by others. Those terms are well understood in their ordinary meaning and can be applied in a clear and straightforward way by judges.”