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Have your sayWe welcome news and views on any subject related to administrative justice and tribunals. Pass it on!Please forward Adjust to people who might find it interesting. To have your name added to our list of recipients, click here Wales ConferenceThe Council on Tribunals will be hosting its second conference on Administrative Justice in Wales on Thursday 21 June 2007. The conference will take place at St David's Hotel in Cardiff. Delegates will have an opportunity to engage in discussions about administrative justice in Wales. If you would be interested in attending, please email us |
Response to consultation on School Admission Appeals"The requirement for training for exclusion appeal panels has recently become mandatory by law...and the Council would like to see the same approach adopted for admission appeal panels"
The Council has responded to a recent DfES consultation on a new draft Code of Practice on School Admission Appeals, urging mandatory training for admission appeals panels by law. This follows the recent requirement for training for exclusion appeal panels to become mandatory by law. Under new regulations, exclusion panel members and clerks are required to have undergone prescribed training before sitting as a panel member or acting as clerk – this training includes exclusions law, human rights and diversity legislation. The Council has urged a similar amendment to the Admissions Appeals Arrangements Regulations. A forum of school appeals panel members have also responded to the DfES consultation on the draft Code. One of the key points of their response concerns the lack of independence of appeals panels perpetuated within the draft code, particularly where the admission authority is involved in all aspects of the appeal panels, including administration, appointments and resources. The Forum ask "How can parents give credence to professed independence if the opposing party, which also has vastly more resources and experience than them, has appointed the panel, and is informing and directing parents what to do, where to go and when to do it?" Scottish Education Appeal Committees: proposals for reform"...research conducted with parents who have appealed to EACs show that the system needs to be improved if it is to be seen as impartial and have the trust of those who use it"
The Scottish Executive has issued a formal consultation on Education Appeal Committees (EACs). A report in 2000 by the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals found that the then processes underpinning the operation of EACs were often 'seriously unsatisfactory' and one of the key recommendations was that all those involved, i.e. clerks and panel members should be properly trained. In 2004 the Scottish Executive funded research involving parents who had appealed to Education Appeal Committees, which subsequently reported that parents found the appeal process 'bleak and dispiriting' and biased against them. The main proposals in the consultation include improving the information that is provided to parents before appeal hearings, reducing the perception of bias at hearings by focusing on selection criteria for panel membership and developing national training for EAC members. SEN Statement: Need to specify education provisionThe DfES has requested a County Council to provide a more specific and detailed account of how a child's needs are to be provided in statements of special educational needs. The DfES found that the local authority was failing to specify in SEN statements the precise provision that should be made (for example, a particular number of hours from a support assistant, or a pro-rata amount of time from a support teacher). Local authorities are required under sections 324(2) and (3) of the Education Act 1996 and regulation 16(b) of the Education (Special Educational Needs) (England) (Consolidation) Regulations 2001 to specify in a SEN statement the special educational provision to be made to meet a child's needs. Online Education Discussion ForumThe DfES has set up a discussion site for admission and exclusion appeals. The forum allows users to share best practice and discuss any issues relating to appeals. The DfES will also use the site to highlight any new developments in legislation or guidance that may be useful for users. |
Tribunal User Groups – SurveyThe Council is about to undertake a survey of tribunal user groups (sometimes known as stakeholder groups), in order to gain a broader picture of the type of arrangements that tribunals have in place for user representatives. The Council plans to survey user representatives with a view to obtaining feedback. If you have any views on tribunal user groups, the Council would be very interested to hear from you. |
Users Focus :The Case for an Education Appeals Tribunal in the Tribunals ServiceSheila Sturgeon is the admission and exclusion appeals clerk for Oxfordshire and the co-ordinator of the Education Appeals Support Initiative (EASI). In her paper 'School Admission and Exclusion Appeal Panels – A Lack of Independence' she makes the case for an independent Education Appeals Tribunal within the Tribunals Service. This article has also appeared in Education, Public Law & the Individual (Volume 10 Issue 2 Summer 2006) published by ELAS. EASI Conference 2006 – an appeal clerk's perspective"...one of the most useful conferences I've attended in terms of the relevance of the content and the networking opportunities"
In November 2006 the Education Appeals Support Initiative (EASI) held its annual South of England conference. Topics included a presentation by Professor Dame Hazel Genn on her 'Tribunals for diverse users' research and an update on disability discrimination case law. Adjust spoke to Andrea Grant, the Democratic Services Manager at Wirral Council, about her role as an appeals clerk and her impressions of the EASI Conference. |
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