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Tell us what you think...Are there any topics you would like to see feature in this newsletter? Email your thoughts to: enquiries @ cot.gsi.gov.uk Pass it on!Please forward Adjust to people who might find it interesting. To have your name added to our list of recipients, please send an email to adjust_mailing @ cot.gsi.gov.uk JSB Training Dates9-11 Nov 2005 28-29 Nov 2005 24 Jan 2006 22 Feb 2006 8-10 Mar 2006 20-22 Mar 2006 For further details see the JSB's Tribunals' Training Prospectus. |
Welcome to the fourth edition of Adjust, the Council on Tribunals’ quarterly electronic newsletter.
Although the summer months are a quiet time for Parliament, the Council has kept very active. Notably, we have hosted two very diverse workshop events: a workshop for London-based school admission and exclusion appeal clerks; and another of our Users Support Workshops, on this occasion in Bristol. In November the Council looks forward to welcoming delegates to its Annual Conference, and at the end of the year we intend to publish the results of our Oral Hearings Consultation. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading more about the Council’s work and other news and views from across the administrative justice world. Lord Newton of Braintree, Chairman Council NewsResearch Advisory Group establishedThe Council and Lord Justice Carnwath, Senior President designate of Tribunals, have jointly established a Research Advisory Group. Its remit is: ‘To provide such advice as the Senior President or the Council may seek, or as the Group may think it appropriate to offer, on all matters relating to the availability, desirability or dissemination of research assisting with the fulfilment of their respective duties, having regard to the proposed creation of a Tribunals Service and the proposed wider remit of the Council as an Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council’. The Group will be chaired by former Council member Professor Martin Partington, who will also act as special adviser to the Senior President when his period of appointment as a Law Commissioner ends later this year. The Council will be represented on the Group by Professor Genevra Richardson and Bernard Quoroll, and the group is expected to hold its first meeting later this year. Council news in brief
Other NewsOmbudsmen and Administrative JusticeOn 27 October Ann Abraham, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, gave a lecture at the Society for Advanced Legal Studies on “Ombudsmen and administrative justice” with the subtitle “A sense of proportion: the administrative justice landscape and the wider picture”. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is an ex officio member of the Council on Tribunals. The lecture raised important questions about how the current administrative justice framework and machinery might be better designed to deal with the interface between Ombudsmen and the courts - in everyone’s interests, but especially in the interests of users. It also reflected on Ombudsmen's interface with other forms of scrutiny - and in particular with Parliament. Lord Donaldson of Lymington
Lord Donaldson of Lymington, Master of the Rolls 1982-1992, died on August 31 aged 84, just a few days after his colleague and near contemporary Lord Lane, Lord Chief Justice 1980-1992. Indeed, they both became High Court judges on the same day, 30 September 1966. In John Donaldson’s case, that meant relinquishing membership of the Council on Tribunals, which he had joined the previous year. John Donaldson achieved national prominence as President of the National Industrial Relations Court throughout its short existence from 1971 to 1974. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1979. Through his decisions he made a substantial contribution to the development of administrative law. After his retirement from the Bench, Lord Donaldson, who was an expert in maritime law and a keen sailor, conducted several important inquiries and reviews on nautical matters, including the Braer oil tanker inquiry and the MV Derbyshire assessment, as well as chairing various financial bodies such as the Appeals Panel of the London Metal Exchange. Nuffield Seminars on Administrative Justice |
* The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust that aims to ‘advance social well being’ particularly through research and practical experiment. |
The Nuffield Foundation* is hosting a series of seminars on the subject of Administrative Justice. Led by Professor Maurice Sunkin of the University of Essex, these seminars will bring together a number of people with a range of experiences and viewpoints, including advisers, members of tribunals, judges, ombudspersons, and complaints handlers, as well as academics and policy-makers. The three main aims of the seminars are to stimulate an informed and strategic discussion, ensure the wider issues raised in current reform proposals can be covered, and to help identify future research needs. At present six seminars are planned, taking place at the Nuffield Foundation, 28 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3JS. The first seminar will be held on Monday 7 November and will consider the general landscape of administrative justice. The aim will be to identify views on the core characteristics of administrative justice, to consider how it may be distinguished from civil and criminal justice. The second seminar will be on Monday 12 December and will focus on ‘street level’ decision making and internal review. Later topics will include mechanisms for external review, including mediation, ombudsmen and tribunals; the regulation and oversight of administrative justice; and lessons from overseas. For more details on these, and later seminars, please contact Mrs Ann Woodings at the University of Essex: annw @ essex.ac.uk Circuit Bench Appointment - His Honour Judge Gary HickinbottomLord Falconer has appointed His Honour Judge Hickinbottom to sit as the Designated Civil Judge for South Wales with effect from 1 August 2005. Currently the Chief Social Security and Child Support Commissioner for Great Britain, Judge Hickinbottom will continue in that role until a successor has been identified. Acas DVD |
* Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) aims to improve organisations and working life through better employment relations. |
Acas* has launched a new DVD which is designed to guide employers and individuals through the employment tribunal process. ‘The Essential Guide to Employment Tribunals’ offers viewers advice on whether they should be going to a tribunal at all, and, if they decide to go ahead, contains comprehensive guidance on how to prepare for a hearing and what to expect once they get there. It also contains interviews with experts and a dramatised case study to show what actually happens at a tribunal. The DVD costs £34.95 (£44.22 inc. VAT and P&P) and can be ordered by calling 08702 42 90 90 or via the Acas website: www.acas.org.uk (in the 'Our Publications' section). CommentUse and Value of Oral Hearings in the Administrative Justice System
Lord Justice Carnwath I take this opportunity to welcome the Council on Tribunals’ consultation paper on the use of oral hearings. I was also privileged to participate in a seminar organised by the Council on 21st June, a report of which may be found on their website. The Council is hoping both to gather information on the different types of oral exchange currently employed within administrative justice, and to develop principles for use in the future. I look forward to seeing the conclusions from that exercise. The purpose of this article is not in any way to pre-empt that work, but to offer some general thoughts which may help the discussion. So What Does Administrative Justice Mean To Me?
Brian Thompson I am pleased to contribute to the debate on administrative justice initiated by Bernard Quoroll in the last issue of Adjust. In this short article I shall not attempt a definition of administrative justice, but rather give some indications of its scope. I will refer to some of the ideas in the academic literature and end with some suggestions for the work programme which the Council might undertake in the new role envisaged for it in the July 2004 White Paper Transforming Public Services: Complaints, Redress and Tribunals. Criminal Injuries Compensation:
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The Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP) opened its doors in August this year. The project’s official launch was in June, when the current staff members were appointed following a successful pilot duty scheme led by Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre. ASAP aims to ensure that asylum seekers are represented at hearings before the Asylum Support Adjudicators; currently there is no Legal Aid available in this area of legal work. ASAP runs a twice-weekly tribunal duty scheme at the Asylum Support Adjudicators, where two legal advisers and sometimes volunteer barristers offer free advice and representation to appellants. In addition, ASAP offers advice, support and training to organisations assisting asylum seekers on asylum support appeals and can undertake casework on a referral basis. Based in Croydon, the project is funded by the Helen Tetlow Memorial Fund, Two Garden Court Chambers, the Big Lottery Fund, the City Parochial Foundation and the London Legal Support Trust. For more information, contact the ASAP Advice Line on 020 8684 5972 or visit their website: www.asaproject.org.uk Related link: User Perspectives on the National Parking Adjudication ServiceDuring 2004, Professor John W Raine and Eileen Dunstan from the School of Public Policy at the University of Birmingham conducted research on behalf of the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS). Profile
Dr Adrian Stokes OBEAdrian Stokes has been a member of the Council on Tribunals for two years. An international expert in the application of ICT for healthcare, he talks to Adjust about his years of voluntary work with organisations supporting people with disabilities and his hopes that a new unified Tribunals Service will take more account of the individual needs of appellants. Spotlight
Asylum Support AdjudicatorsSehba Haroon Storey, the Chief Asylum Support Adjudicator, talks to Adjust about the work of the adjudicators and the challenges they face. RNID: Representing the needs of Tribunal Users |
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RNID is the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. Simon Robinson from RNID talks about the issues faced by deaf and hard of hearing users of tribunals and the services RNID provides to them. |
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