Those who read the short post 'Appealing Decisions' may appreciate some further background regarding the future of the 'Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council'. I suspect that many of you would not have realised that the AJTC - whilst undertaking their consultation on, 'Administrative Decisions made by Public Bodies in Scotland where there is no Right of Appeal against the Decision or where the Right of Appeal is inaccessible or inappropriate.' - was as a council itself under treat as part of the Westminster Government's proposed reforms through a 'Public Bodies Bill', as outlined below.
(The following extracts were taken from the, 'Response to consultation on reforms proposed in the Public Bodies Bill' - Reforming the public bodies landscape of the Ministry of Justice 15 December 2011
Presented to Parliament by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice by Command of Her Majesty - This was a consultation produced by the Ministry of Justice. There is a requirement, as relevant, to consult those bodies/individuals, Scottish and Welsh Ministers and the Lord Chief Justice, listed in clause 10 of the Public Bodies Bill. However, this consultation was also aimed at anyone with an interest in the Public Bodies Bill and the proposals it contains in relation to Ministry of Justice bodies. This report basically just sums up what everyone thought of the Westminster reforms in this case.)
Extracts:
...In July 2011 the Ministry of Justice
published a consultation on reforming its public bodies through the Public
Bodies Bill. The Bill, which received Royal Assent on 14 December, is part of
the Government’s commitment to radically reform its public bodies, and the
consultation set out the case for reform of bodies within the justice sector.
Key to effective reform is the balance that must be struck between the
independence which is vital for some functions of Government to be exercised effectively,
and the need to optimise accountability and efficiency…
The Ministry of Justice has 3501 public
bodies – the most of any department – and we proposed to reduce that figure by
at least one quarter, to 264. We have also announced that the department will
save approximately £1.6bn in total over the current spending review period
through reductions in its public bodies’ administrative, programme and capital
budgets. The Public Bodies Act 2011 is one part of this package of reforms;
there are 13 Ministry of Justice public bodies within the scope of the Act
which will either be abolished, merged or reformed.
The
consultation received 2,742 responses…of these 2607 were identical responses
regarding the Office of the Chief Coroner sent by members of the public via the
Royal British Legion website.
The Public Bodies Act 2011 now provides the legislative
framework for reform, giving Ministers powers to enact changes by order. Where
a body’s functions are no longer required or it has fulfilled the purpose for
which it was created, the proposal is to abolish the body. In appropriate
circumstances, the relevant Government department would take responsibility for
any particular functions to be retained, ensuring increased Government
accountability – a key aim of the reforms.
...Bodies
for abolition are included in Schedule 1 of the Act - and one of these bodies
is the
- Administrative
Justice and Tribunals Council
…A
total of 41 responses were received regarding the proposal to abolish the
Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council (AJTC). The majority of responses
came from individuals (18 responses), some of whom have an academic or
professional background in the justice system, and from professional
organisations and representative groups (12 responses) with specific
involvement in administrative justice. There were four responses from
charities. The AJTC itself provided a detailed response to the Government’s
proposals and responses were also received from the Welsh and Scottish
governments and from Sir Robert Carnwath, the Senior President of Tribunals.
…There
is a strand of opinion that the abolition of the AJTC was justified, but the
majority of respondents expressed the view that the AJTC should not be
abolished. The Scottish Government is content for the AJTC and its Scottish
Committee to be abolished and has been considering what arrangements should be
made, in Scotland
…While
the Scottish Government are considering what arrangements might be put in place
following the proposed abolition of the AJTC, an organisation representing
consumers in Scotland felt that the current complex tribunals landscape in
Scotland required that the UK and Scottish Governments should work together to
ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place following the abolition of
the Scottish Committee of the AJTC.
The latest information I have is that the AJTC Scottish Committee is meeting on 12 June to consider the latest draft report - on their 'admin decisions with no right of appeal consultation' - from
Professor Adler. The Scottish Committee had been aiming for a publication date of sometime in July
as they were expecting to be abolished on 31 July 2012. However, there has now been an indefinite delay in the laying of the Order to abolish,
and they are using the reprieve to look a little deeper into certain areas of their consultation on admin decisions with no right of appeal with a
view to delaying publishing until August/September.
I have copies of the, '... response of the AJTC to the consultation paper ‘Public Bodies Bill: reforming the public bodies of the Ministry of Justice’ in which the MoJ is consulting on the government’s proposal that the AJTC, among other bodies, be abolished.', plus a copy of the, 'Government Response to the Public Administration Select Committee report on the future oversight of the administrative justice system'. If you would like copies of these items or indeed the consultation response from which the above extracts were taken please email me at apt.intouch@live.co.uk
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