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The Council has consistently and strongly supported this move. It is a major step forward in reinforcing those qualities of openness, fairness and impartiality which Franks set as the benchmarks nearly 50 years ago. We shall seek to provide continued support, along with constructive scrutiny, as it moves forward.
Against this background, it was of course a disappointment that Parliamentary time could not be found to legislate for the intended evolution of the Council into an Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. But we have not allowed this to deflect us from continuing to develop our activities in ways which both serve our existing remit and strengthen our ability to fulfil the wider role in due course.
Our Annual Conference in November again attracted wide participation among those interested in administrative justice. We welcomed as keynote speaker DCA Minister Baroness Ashton, who made clear her commitment to a continuing role for non-legal tribunal members and a review of how their contribution could best be made work in which we are involved.
Our May 2005 consultation paper on the use and value of oral hearings produced a wide response, two valuable events, and some important strands of thinking for the future. We completed the series of "user workshops" begun the previous year and reported on the views and insights we gained.
We facilitated an event which sparked a new forum for sharing experience and best practice among school admission and exclusion appeal clerks in London. We continued to develop our links across the tribunals and administrative justice landscape, notably through two important pieces of work with the British and Irish Ombudsman Association. We look forward to building on all this again in 200607.
The Rt Hon the Lord Newton of Braintree OBE, DL
