Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects the Government to outline its proposals for reform of the European Court of Human Rights as part of the UK's chairmanship agenda for the Council of Europe.
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Government have stated its intention to make reform of the ECtHR a priority for the UK Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which it will assume in November 2011. In particular, as I stated at the Izmir Conference on the future of the ECtHR, we need to strengthen the principle of subsidiarity, recognising that States are primarily responsible for implementing the Convention, and to find better ways for the Court to focus quickly, efficiently and transparently on the important cases that require its attention. The Government will set out its full proposals for the Chairmanship in due course.