RESPONSES TO TRIBUNAL REVIEW CONSULTATION

Responses to the Tribunals Review team's consultation paper issued in June are published today. Nearly 300 responses to the consultation paper have been received and analysed.

Sir Andrew Leggatt, who heads the Review Team, has been encouraged by the level of well-considered responses which, whilst acknowledging the strengths of a separate system of tribunals, recognise that the area is ripe for change.

"The responses have helped greatly in our understanding of what tribunal users, and those who run them, think are the strengths of tribunals and what aspects should be improved. I am very grateful to all those who took the time and trouble to respond so helpfully to the consultation paper "

Sir Andrew is due to report to the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, by April 2001.

Notes for Editors

Responses

1. On 9 June, a detailed consultation paper was issued with the aim of seeking the views, from all perspectives, of those involved directly with tribunals. A summary of the analysis has been prepared and distributed to all those who responded.



2. Copies can be obtained from the Review's website (http://www.tribunals-review.org.uk), or from Ron Thorpe, Room 3.S.6 Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT (tel: 020-7210 1218).



3. A series of seminars have been arranged with senior administrators and senior heads of some of the larger tribunals, advisory and user groups and with academics who have an interest in the field, to discuss issues raised by the consultation, and seek views on the priorities in possible ways forward.



4. Reporters requiring further information regarding this press notice should ring Mike Wicksteed, tel: 020-7210 8514.



5. The Secretary to the Review is Alistair Shaw, to whom any enquiries for advice on making submissions to the Tribunal should be made: tel: 020-7210 1201

Review of Tribunals

6. Sir Andrew Leggatt was appointed by the Lord Chancellor on 18 May to conduct a wide-ranging review of tribunals. He is being assisted primarily by Dame Valerie Strachan (former Chairman of the Board of HM Customs and Excise) and also by a team of expert consultees. The reviewers have been asked to report to the Lord Chancellor by 31 March 2001. (See LCD Press Notice 158/00)

Expert Consultees

Martin Partington - Professor of Law, Bristol University

Richard Susskind - IT Advisor to the Lord Chief Justice

Carol Harlow QC, FBA - Professor of Public Law, London School of Economics

Doris Littlejohn CBE, JP - for President of the Employment Tribunals (Scotland)

David Hatch CBE, JP - Chairman of the National Consumer Council

Terms of Reference

7. The review's terms of reference are:

"To review the delivery of justice through tribunals other than ordinary courts of law, constituted under an Act of Parliament by a Minister of the Crown or for purposes of a Minister's functions; in resolving disputes, whether between citizens and the state, or between other parties, so as to ensure that:

• There are fair, timely, proportionate and effective arrangements for handling those disputes, within an effective framework for decision-making which encourages the systematic development of the area of law concerned, and which forms a coherent structure, together with the superior courts, for the delivery of administrative justice;



• The administrative and practical arrangements for supporting those decision-making procedures meet the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights for independence and impartiality;



• There are adequate arrangements for improving people's knowledge and understanding of their rights and responsibilities in relation to such disputes, and that tribunals and other bodies function in a way which makes those rights and responsibilities a reality;



• The arrangements for the funding and management of tribunals and other bodies by Government departments are efficient, effective and economical; and pay due regard both to judicial independence, and to ministerial responsibility for the administration of public funds;



• Performance standards for tribunals are coherent, consistent, and public; and effective measures for monitoring and enforcing those standards are established; and



• Tribunals overall constitute a coherent structure for the delivery of administrative justice.

The review may examine, insofar as it considers it necessary, administrative and regulatory bodies which also make judicial decisions as part of their functions."

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