Mr. Kevin Condon:

If one goes back to 1995, it was felt that the process needed to be opened up to people who brought a perspective from business and commerce. The 1995 Act sets out reasonably minimal criteria for that. Nevertheless, however, it brought the involvement of three laypeople into what was a board of ten people at the time. That board, of course, changed to 11 people when the Court of Appeal was established in 2014.

The Chairman will be aware, of course, that there was some question of having a lay majority within the 2017 Bill. The provisions of the Bill set out a wide range of criteria that Government believes laypeople can bring to the process, whether it is experience of the courts, arbitration and mediation or administration and business. I believe a wide range of perspectives are required to be captured on a board. To be clear, the board has nine members. It is actually an equality of laypersons and judges because there will be four judges and the Attorney General. There will not, therefore, be a majority of laypersons but an equal number of laypersons and judges.

It is fairly consistent, for want of a better way of putting it, with nearby jurisdictions, which have strong and positive lay involvement. They certainly tend to have more lay involvement than we have currently under the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board system.