Tribunal Reform

The Lord Chancellor has announced the way forward on tribunal reform.  Informed by Sir Andrew Leggatt's 2001 report "Tribunals for Users - One System, One Service" and the Lord Chancellor's subsequent consultation on that report, the Government has decided to establish a unified Tribunals Service within the Lord Chancellor's Department. More details of the new service will follow in a White Paper later in the year.

Q. Which DTI tribunals will form part of a unified service?

A. The LCD announcement states that initially the new service will be based on the ten largest tribunals and will include the Employment Tribunals Service. Briefing on the new service and changes to tribunals in the employment field can be found on [link to ER website announcement on Tribunals for Users]. Where appropriate, other smaller DTI tribunals will join the new service at a later date.

Q. Will any DTI tribunals be excluded from the new unified service?

A. Yes. The Central Arbitration Committee, the Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal, the Copyright Tribunal and the tribunal functions of the Patent Office will remain with DTI.

Q. Why is a special case being made for these tribunals?

A. The tribunal functions of the Patent Office have never been within the scope of a unified service.

It was not thought appropriate to include these tribunals within a unified service because of the specialist nature of the work and the type of
parties appearing before them as well as their dependence on the resources of host organisations (Patent Office, ACAS and the Competition Commission). In particular:

The Copyright Tribunal

The Copyright Tribunal has stayed with DTI because:

• It is a small party v party tribunal which hears only one or two cases a year. These are of a specialist nature where the parties are invariably representative bodies that have UK-wide coverage and that use senior barrister to argue their cases.
  
• Resources (e.g. accommodation, administration and IT) are provided by and shared with Copyright Directorate in PATS.  Except when hearing are taking place, this involves a part-time secretary who, because of her contribution for the rest of the time
  to the other work of Copyright Directorate, has considerable knowledge that can be used to great effect in administration of the Tribunal. For example she has the knowledge to give appropriate advice when people often mistakenly approach the Tribunal in the belief that it can have a role.
  
• The efficient and effective support for the Copyright Tribunal was recognised in responses to the LCD consultation from the senior members of the Tribunal and some important users. It was questioned whether an equivalent holistic approach could be
  provided within a unified tribunal service. None of these responses we have seen identified any lack of independence for the Copyright Tribunal with the current arrangements.
  

The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC)

The CAC has stayed within DTI responsibility because:

• (as the Certification Office) it is resourced and organised through Acas, with which it works closely. For organisational and other reasons it is sensible not to change its status.
  

The Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal (CCAT)

The CCAT has stayed with DTI because:

• The CCAT hear appeals against decisions of the DGFT and the utility regulators NOT against the decisions of Ministers or government departments.
  
• The CCAT deals with complex legal, economic and financial issues.  Members include specialists in law, accountancy and economics.  Those appearing before the CCAT will almost always be large
  companies represented by high-powered lawyers.
  
• The CCAT are already strongly independent of both the government and the reporting side of the Commission.
  
• At the same time, the CCAT already share resources with other parts of the Commission, and form part of a focus for competition expertise.