I beg to move Amendment No. 526, in

Clause 120, page 70, line 24, at end insert—

'(1A) In the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (c.25), in Schedule 2 paragraphs 1(4) and 2(4) are repealed.'.

Whenever it has suited Members on either side of the Committee, the Law Commission, the Select Committee on Home Affairs or both have been

prayed in aid. This is an instance when I intend to do both. In report No. 245, the Law Commission said:

''We recommend the repeal of paragraphs 1(4) and 2(4) of Schedule 2 to the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.''

That was recommendation 21. Those paragraphs, which relate to statements and depositions respectively, both say:

''If a party to the proceedings objects to sub-paragraph (2) applying the court of trial may order that the objection shall have no effect if the court considers it to be in the interests of justice so to order.''

When the Home Affairs Committee considered the Law Commission's view, it said:

''We agree with the Law Commission's view that 'cross-examination . . . should be dispensed with only where it is necessary to do so'. We therefore share its concern about the effect on the hearsay rule of Schedule 2 to the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996. We invite the Government to take this opportunity to repeal the offending paragraphs of Schedule 2 to the 1996 Act, as recommended by the Law Commission, or to explain its reasons for not doing so.''

I have a perfect opportunity to invite the Government to do exactly as the Home Affairs Committee suggested, or to explain their reasons for not doing so.

There has clearly been some misunderstanding about whether the corresponding provisions in schedule 2 to the 1996 Act will be repealed by the Bill. I am therefore extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to clarify our intentions in that respect. We have accepted the Law Commission's recommendations on the issue. We intend to repeal the hearsay exceptions in schedule 2 to the 1996 Act. We are resisting the Amendment today, but only because we believe that it will be much easier to deal with the matter in the context of the repeals that relate to allocation procedures, in part 6 of the Bill. However, I give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that we understand and welcome his concerns, and shall table an appropriate amendment. I hope that that gives him the reassurance that he needs to withdraw the amendment.

I could have ended this Committee day on a very high point indeed if the Amendment had been accepted by the Minister. He said that he would not do so, but that he would do what I asked. That is pretty close to achieving success in Committee, and therefore I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause 120 ordered to stand part of the Bill.