Lord Chancellor quizzed by Lords in annual evidence session
The House of Lords Constitution Committee will be holding its first evidence session with Chris Grayling MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, on Wednesday 21 November.
In a one-off evidence session, held by the Committee every year, the Justice Secretary is likely to be asked by the Committee about issues including:
- how the Government will proceed with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on prisoners being granted the vote, given the statement by the Prime Minister that he will not allow it and the deadline of this Friday set by the Court for legislation to be introduced to remove the blanket ban;
- whether the Government will review the power for a minister to veto a court order that the Government should disclose information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000;
- his reaction to concerns expressed by the judiciary about changes to the judicial pension scheme;
- whether he intends to review the proposal in the Crime and Courts Bill to empower the Lord Chancellor to become part of the selection process for the President of the Supreme Court and the Lord Chief Justice; and
- practical steps he thinks should be taken to encourage greater judicial diversity.
The evidence session will take place at 10.30am on Wednessday 21 November in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords and will be webcast live at www.parliamentlive.tv.
The evidence session is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
