Adjust talks to new Chair of the AJTC, Richard Thomas (pdf, 0.1MB)

Richard Thomas, who was awarded a CBE in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List, took up his position as the new Chair of the AJTC on 1 September 2009. In this month's edition, Richard talks to Adjust about his new job and reflects on his past experience.

The Administrative Justice System – what is it? (pdf, 0.1MB)

The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, under which the AJTC was created, defined 'administrative justice' as "the overall system by which decisions of an administrative or executive nature are made in relation to particular persons...". As part of its work programme the AJTC has been exploring this new statutory definition of administrative justice and the resulting paper "The Developing Administrative Justice Landscape" has now been published. An initial examination of the developing landscape of the administrative justice system and the importance of administrative justice to ordinary people, this paper also focuses on the different components that make up the administrative justice system. It aims to stimulate discussion and research into administrative justice, about which the AJTC welcomes further ideas and contributions. The AJTC hopes to promote awareness and understanding of the area, as well as emphasise the centrality of users and their needs, and encourages readers to offer us their ideas in response to the paper.

Landmark year for tribunal reform in first full year of the AJTC (pdf, 1MB)

In his final Annual Report for the AJTC, Lord Newton explains the AJTC's involvement in tribunal reform in a year which has seen the successful establishment of the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, and the creation of the reformed tax appeal system. He explains the AJTC's role as 'critical friend' of the Tribunals Service and how we have monitored the impact of the changes on tribunal users, highlighting the advantages and occasional disadvantages the reforms have brought. Lord Newton also highlights priority issues for the coming year including monitoring the interaction between various forms of administrative redress and the extent to which these meet users' needs, and the need for further improvements in the administration of mental health appeals.

Administrative Justice in Scotland – The Way Forward

The second report of the Administrative Justice Steering Group entitled "Administrative Justice in Scotland – The Way Forward" has been published by Consumer Focus Scotland. The Steering Group was established in 2006 and its remit was to commission research and act in an advisory capacity in the preparation of a final report to the Scottish Government on the administrative justice framework in Scotland.

The report evaluates the current system of administrative justice in Scotland and concludes that there are a number of areas of concern in which the needs of users are not sufficiently being met. Incorrect initial decisions, poor learning from mistakes in the public sector and a complex and in some cases, high cost grievance system making it difficult for citizens to initiate a complaint are some of the concerns. The group's recommendations for the way forward in Scotland include improving initial decision making and specific proposals for effective redress.

The report, including the executive summary is available to view and download from the Consumer Focus Scotland website.

Administrative Justice in Wales: Citizens in the Centre (pdf, 0.2MB)

The inaugural conference of the AJTC's Welsh Committee was held in Cardiff on 18 June and focused on the citizen's view and experience of administrative justice. Summaries of the conference presentations, including from Peter Tyndall, Public Service Ombudsman for Wales, Dame Gillian Morgan, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Assembly Government, and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, Presiding Judge for Wales, are available from our comprehensive conference report.

New Chair for Scottish Committee of the AJTC

After four years as Chair of the Scottish Committee, Professor Alistair MacLeary stepped down from office on 16 August 2009. Richard Henderson who initially joined the Scottish Committee as a member in January 2009, replaced him as Chair on 17 August 2009. Richard was Solicitor to the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007.

Lands Tribunal replaced with specialist chamber (pdf, 0.1MB)

On 1 June 2009 the Lands Tribunal was officially abolished and its jurisdiction transferred to a specialist chamber in the Upper Tribunal, namely the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), which will continue to be known as the Lands Tribunal. The Chamber President is George Bartlett QC who was also head of the former Lands Tribunal. All cases in to the new Lands Chamber will currently be dealt with under the same rules as the former Lands Tribunal. A consultation on the draft rules for the new Lands Chamber will be launched later this year.

NB: The above text differs slightly for that originally published which referred only to the Lands Tribunal's appeal jurisdictions.

Tribunal reform – new General Regulatory Chamber (pdf, 0.1MB)

The Charity, Estate Agent Appeals and Consumer Credit Appeals Tribunals were abolished on 1 September in the latest step of the tribunal reform process. These bodies no longer exist as separate tribunals but, along with part of the Transport Tribunal, have been transferred to the new General Regulatory Chamber (GRC) of the First-tier Tribunal. Onward appeals from these jurisdictions will be to the Upper Tribunal and the existing judiciary and staff from the four previous tribunals will be transferred across to the new two-tier system. The acting Chamber President is Professor John Angel who is currently the President of the Information Tribunal.

Employment Tribunal – enforcing employment tribunal awards

New measures have been introduced to improve the payment of employment tribunal awards and reduce the cost of enforcing unpaid ones. The measure means High Court Enforcement Officers will take on the recovery of awards granted by employment tribunals or in out-of-court settlements. A new extended telephone enquiries line has also been established to provide more comprehensive information to claimants on enforcing their award.

Review of Tribunals Judiciary Terms and Conditions (pdf, 0.1MB)

A review of the terms and conditions of tribunals judiciary has now been concluded with the Lord Chancellor approving the implementation of new uniform terms and conditions. They will apply to all judicial office holders in tribunals administered by the Tribunals Service and will come into effect on 1 April 2010. The review sought to harmonise and rationalise the variations between terms and conditions among various tribunals after the creation of the Tribunals Service and the new unified tribunals structure. Further information on the changes is available from the Tribunals Service.

Communities and Local Government: "Getting it right and righting the wrongs"

The CLG has published the above paper, a short independent review into the feasibility and practicality of introducing and extending redress options available to citizens when their council services fail to meet agreed standards. The review looked at the experience of service and redress provision from the citizen's point of view and has produced a 'Practitioners' Toolkit' to provide councils with practical tools to help them improve local services and remedy arrangements.

Valuation Tribunal for England: regulatory framework and detailed arrangements

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published a summary of responses to the above consultation exercise, which was run earlier this year. Following the consultation the Government has decided to proceed with the majority of the proposals including production of a single set of procedural regulations in relation to VTE handling of certain appeals.

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Immigration & Asylum

Oversight of Immigration Advice Sector:
Consultation responses

The AJTC has responded to a Government consultation on proposals to change the way immigration advice and services are regulated in the UK. Citizens Advice has also responded to this consultation and their response is available here.

Immigration Appeals: Government response to consultation (pdf, 1MB)

The Government has published its response to the August 2008 consultation on immigration appeals. The consultation document entitled "Immigration Appeals: Fair decisions; faster justice". The functions of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal will be transferred into the First-tier and Upper Tribunals. The Lord Chancellor will no longer make immigration and asylum procedure rules; this power will be transferred to the Tribunal Procedure Committee following the concern of many respondents to the consultation. In addition, the Government has confirmed that legislation will remove the statutory bar preventing the transfer of Immigration and Asylum Judicial Reviews to the Upper Tribunal.

CA Social Justice Policy report on the Asylum Support Tribunal

Citizens Advice has published a report after examining substantive decisions made by the Asylum Support Tribunal over a six-month period.The report makes a number of recommendations, including creating publicly funded legal representation before the Tribunal.

UKBA Judicial Review Policy Changes

The UK Border Agency is changing its published policy in judicial review cases where the UKBA is seeking to have a person removed from the UK. The changes will only affect those cases where the claimant has raised no material additional to that already submitted during the statutory appeal process.

Public Accounts Committee report on management of asylum applications (pdf, 1.7MB)

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has published a report on the management of asylum applications, reflecting on the progress made since the 2006 report of its predecessor body, the Committee of Public Accounts. The report notes the improvements the Department has made in response to criticisms in the 2006 report, as well as areas in which further work needs to be done and obstacles to faster, more accurate completion of cases.

Core Criteria for Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency (pdf, 1.7MB)

The Inspectorate's core inspection programme will focus on the day to day work of the UKBA. It also identifies the core criteria that the Inspectorate will use to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the UKBA including quality of decision-making and consistency of approach, and the impact on people who are subject to the UKBA's services.

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Education

Special Educational Needs focus in new inspection law

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, has announced plans to strengthen inspection law to allow assessment of schools based on how they support children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities. He also plans to introduce greater rights of redress for parents who are unhappy with their child's SEN statement to ensure that the statements are kept up to date and are an effective tool.

Exclusion and Exclusion Appeals

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has published a first statistical release on permanent and fixed term exclusions, and exclusion appeals in England for 2007/08. The statistics show a decrease of 6.4% in the number of permanent exclusions and a 25% decrease in exclusion appeals compared to the previous year. Pupils with SEN are still over 8 times more likely to be permanently excluded than those pupils with no SEN.

Additional Support for Learning Bill

The Education (Additional Support for Learning)(Scotland) Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 25 June 2009. This Act amends the law in Scotland in respect of placing requests in relation to the school education of children and young persons having additional support needs and in respect of arrangements between education authorities in relation to such school education. It makes further provision in relation to the practice and procedure of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland.

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Scotland

FEATURE:
Gemma Crompton, Senior Policy Advocate, Legal Services for Consumer Focus Scotland
Public Legal Education and Access to Justice in Scotland

Gemma Crompton recently wrote a series of articles for SCOLAG Legal Journal (the monthly magazine for the Scottish Legal Action Group) on Public Legal Education, including her findings following recent research into PLE in Scotland. The views expressed within the articles are Gemma's views and not those of Consumer Focus Scotland. Our thanks go to Gemma and SCOLAG for allowing us to reproduce the three articles in this edition of Adjust.

The articles can also be downloaded from www.scolag.org.

• Perceptions and Understandings of PLE in Scotland (pdf, 0.1MB)
• Public Legal Education and Access to Justice (pdf, 0.2MB)
• The Challenges for Developing PLE in Scotland (pdf, 0.2MB)

Children's Hearings

A draft Children's Hearings (Scotland) Bill has been published. It was scheduled for introduction to the Scottish Parliament in the autumn but this is now not likely to occur until next year to allow Ministers to consult further with stakeholders. Although not a consultation paper, the draft Bill contains the Scottish Government's proposals to reinforce and modernise the Children's Hearings System in Scotland. A key proposal is the creation of a new national body, the Scottish Children's Hearings Tribunal to be responsible for all functions associated with the Children's Panel, including recruitment, selection and training of panel members.

The Scottish Committee is represented on the Strategic Project Board for the Children's Hearings system and will look to play a full part in the consultation process that will emanate from the Bill.

Modernising Planning in Scotland

From 3 August 2009, a number of significant changes will be introduced to the planning system in Scotland including new planning application types, neighbour notification being undertaken by councils, changes to the ways in which applications are processed and the rights of appeal.

For most local developments determined from 3 August by officers under the new statutory scheme of delegation, applicants will have a right to request review of the decision by a Local Review Body, which comprises members of the Council. The consideration of a review will be in public and based on the information available when the original decision was made.

Further information on the Planning reforms, including a guide to Scotland's Planning system can be viewed on the Scottish Government website.

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Wales

Citizens Advice clients in Wales study

Citizens Advice Cymru together with Bangor University have released a longitudinal study of Citizens Advice service clients in Wales. The study examines the range of problems faced by the sample, 62% of whom relied on social security benefits, state pensions or tax credits as their main source of income, and the positive effect on many aspects of their lives of receiving help and advice from Citizens Advice.

Consultation: Independent Review Mechanism (Fostering and Adoption)

This consultation document proposes the introduction of an Independent Review of Determinations for Fostering relating to the approval of foster carers in Wales, and amendments to existing arrangements for the Independent Review of Determinations for Adoptions. The consultation ends on 30 September 2009.

Proposed Social Care Charges (Wales) Measure

This measure will allow Welsh Ministers to set out, in subordinate legislation and in guidance, the detail of a fairer and more consistent framework for local authorities to adopt when charging individual service users for non-residential social care services. The measure is currently at Stage 1, which is scheduled to end on 10 November 2009.

Public Service Ombudsman for England –
Public Interest Report

The Public Service Ombudsman for England and the Health Service Ombudsman (Wales) have published the conclusions of a joint investigation into a complaint that spanned the jurisdiction of both bodies. The complaint, against the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, concerns the refusal of the NHS to fund the care of the complainant's daughter and the way in which the NHS provided a service to the daughter.

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People

Queen's Birthday Honours List

This year's honours list has included honours for Richard Thomas, the incoming Chair of the AJTC, who was awarded a CBE. Professor Graham Zellick, President of the Valuation Tribunal for England, was also awarded a CBE.

Membership of the Scottish Committee of the AJTC

Elizabeth Cameron retired as a member of the AJTC and its Scottish Committee on 31 August 2009 after a period of 7 years service.

Annabell Fowles joined the Scottish Committee in September 2009. Annabell is a solicitor with over 10 years experience in local government. She was legal advisor to the Board of two Non-Governmental Organisations and was Head of Legal Services of the Care Commission. She is currently a case supervisor at the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic.

Professor Sir David Williams (1930–2009)

Professor Sir David Williams, legal scholar and university administrator, has died aged 78. He was a member of the Council on Tribunals from 1972 to 1982 and wrote articles about it. He was a very welcome guest at the AJTC launch event in November 2007.

New Chairman of the Law Commission

Mr Justice Munby has been appointed as the new Chair of the Law Commission for a period of three years. Mr Justice Munby was called to the Bar in 1971 and was appointed Queens Council in 1988. He was appointed as a High Court Judge in 2000 and was assigned to the Family Division and Administrative Court.

Police Complaints Commissioner (pdf, 0.1MB)

John McNeil has been appointed by Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill as the new Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland. He will start in his position on 17 August 2009.

Health Professions Adjudicator

Walter Merricks, chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, will step down from his position in the autumn to become the first Chair of the new Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator (OHPA). The OHPA is a new statutory organisation being set up under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, as an independent body to adjudicate in respect of "fitness to practice" cases referred to it by regulators of health care professionals.

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Research

Research into enforcement of Employment Tribunal awards (pdf, 0.7MB)

IFF Research has published a study of the enforcement of Employment Tribunal awards. The study examines the overall proportion of awards that were honoured and the factors that may affect the likelihood of a claimant being paid an award by their employer.

Public Law Project – Mediation and Judicial Review (pdf, 0.7MB)

The Public Law Project has published a study into the take-up of mediation in judicial review cases and found that despite the enthusiasm of mediators and some judges, mediation is seldom used. The study also identifies the value and limits of mediation as an alternative to, or to be used alongside, judicial review.

Plenet Study: Young People's Legal Capacity

Plenet in conjunction with Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) have published an exploratory study of young people's legal capacity. The research, carried out by IARS, found a general lack of awareness of civil legal entitlements, and the role of the judicial system and legal processes among participants, suggesting a need to strengthen and widen the provision of law-related education to young people.

MoJ Study: Legal Aid Reforms (pdf, 0.9MB)

A study examining the impact of legal aid reforms, trends in funding, and the provision of legal advice at local level has been published by the Ministry of Justice. The study was commissioned in December 2008 in response to the expected rise in demand for advice due to the recession, as well as the impact of legal aid reforms on the advice sector. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found that the recession has increased the demand for legal advice, particularly in the "social welfare" categories. In relation to the Unified Contract and system of fixed fees, the study recommended that consideration be given to develop a monitoring system to identify the impact of incentives in the system on services to clients.

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International

Access and Privacy: A Guide for Tribunals

The Administrative Justice Office of British Columbia (AJO) have produced a number of Guides recently that may be of interest to readers. Together with the Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the AJO has published a guide for tribunals in considering access and privacy issues (pdf, 0.3MB).

Other publications from the AJO include a Best Practice Guide for the Giving of Reasons for statutory decision makers (pdf, 0.3MB), and Model Rules for Tribunals and Other Administrative Bodies (pdf, 0.4MB).

Dealing with unreasonable complainant conduct – Australian Parliamentary Ombudsman Manual

The result of a three year research project involving all Australian Parliamentary Ombudsman offices, this Practice Manual aims to give frontline staff the skills, strategies and resources to confidently deal with unreasonable complainant conduct. The Manual has been prepared as an informative guide for public sector agencies, public officials and members of the public and is designed to contribute to fairness, integrity and good public administration in relation to handling complaints and investigations.

Discussion paper: Development and use of policies and guidelines in the decision making process (pdf, 0.9MB)

The Administrative Justice Office of British Columbia has published the above paper aimed at prompting a discussion about the use of policies and guidelines in decision-making by statutory decision makers, and to assess their understanding of the use of existing policies. Statutory decision-makers often have broad discretionary powers and develop policies to guide their usage. While such policies are meant to be flexible, they are often considered by statutory decision-makers, and even some courts, as having the same legal authority as legislation.

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