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JSB Tribunals journal – Summer issue
The theme of the next edition of the Tribunals journal is proportionate dispute resolution, and will include:
- An overview by Professor Hazel Genn
- Pilot mediation scheme in the RPTS
- Early neutral evaluation taking place at the Appeals Service
- Plans for a mediation pilot at the Employment Tribunal
To subscribe to the journal, which is free of charge, email the JSB
JSB Training Dates
17-19 May 2006
Managing Judicial Leadership.
Northamptonshire
(full)
19-20 June 2006
Tribunal Training the Trainer.
Northamptonshire
(limited places)
9-11 October 2006
Tribunal Skills Development.
Northamptonshire
(full, waiting list only)
27-28 November 2006
Tribunal Advanced Skills Course.
Northamptonshire
16 January 2007
The Effective use of Small Groups in Training.
Millbank Tower, London
For further details see the JSB's Tribunals' Training Prospectus
NI Prisoner Ombudsman Newsletter
Latest issue of the Northern Ireland Prisoner Ombudsman newsletter 'Inside Issues'.
pdf, 571KB
Representation at Immigration Appeals – Best Practice Guide
The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association has published a best practice guide, aimed at representatives at immigration appeals before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. It covers how to prepare a case for appeal and how to represent an appellant at the appeal hearing.
ILPA website
Advicenow e-mail update service
Advicenow, an independent non-profit website run by the Advice Services Alliance, has launched an e-mail newsletter giving up to date information to professionals on the latest developments, new leaflets and topical guides on the Advicenow website.
Sign up via email
Advicenow website
Public Law Project – Empowering the Voluntary Sector
A Big Lottery funded initiative between the Public Law Project and the National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service will be launched in April 2006 to provide advice and training on public law principles to all voluntary sector organisations in England which receive funding from public bodies.
PLP website
Worth a click...
Multikulti provides information, advice, guidance and learning materials in community languages in the areas of welfare law – debt, employment, health, housing, immigration and welfare benefits.
www.multikulti.org.uk
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Council publishes Users Support Workshop Report
"The messages from each of the workshops were remarkably consistent ... there were many common areas of shared interest and mutual concern."
The Council has published a report of the feedback from the series of Users Support Workshops it held in 2004 and 2005. The workshops, which took place in London, Manchester, Bristol and Livingston in Scotland, were aimed at canvassing the views of the organisations that support tribunal users on the issues raised in the Government's White Paper Transforming Public Services: Complaints, Redress and Tribunals.
The report sets out the key messages from the workshop delegates, which include themes such as the need for better access to information, clearer explanations of initial decisions and greater accessibility for tribunal users. The Council hopes that highlighting these issues will assist the collective voice of user organisations.
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News :
Tribunals Service launched!
The Tribunals Service was officially launched on 3 April 2006. The Tribunals Service is a new executive agency of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, designed to provide common administrative support to the main central government tribunals. The launch is the biggest shake-up in the tribunals system for half a century.
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International Tribunals Workshop
Representatives from the Council on Tribunals, the Judicial Studies Board and the Department for Constitutional Affairs recently took part in an International Tribunals Workshop in Canberra, Australia on 5 April, comparing the tribunals systems in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The workshop was organised by Professor Robin Creyke of the Centre for International and Public Law at the Australian National University and was co-sponsored by the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
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Legal Action Group: Agenda for Action
The Legal Action Group has published its policy statement Access to justice: agenda for action setting out its values and vision for access to justice. Five principles underpin LAG's mission of promoting equal access to justice as a fundamental democratic right:
- sustainable legal and advice services
- empowerment through legal literacy
- accountability through the civil courts
- justice beyond the courts
- fair and impartial criminal justice
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Seminar Series:
Administrative Justice – Current State and Future Prospects
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are sponsoring a series of seminars on administrative justice. The seminars are being undertaken by Professor Michael Adler and Dr Richard Whitecross, and the first was held in Edinburgh in March 2006.
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Advice: new publications
Department for Constitutional Affairs report:
'Getting earlier, better advice to vulnerable people'
The DCA's report, published on 23 March, sets out a programme for co-ordinating and enhancing the role of independent advice across central and local Government, and for using feedback from the process to help improve public services.
Community Legal Service strategy:
'Making Legal Rights a Reality'
The Legal Services Commission's strategy for the Community Legal Service, also published 23 March, sets out how the LSC proposes to make the legally aided advice system more targeted to the socially excluded and others who really need advice. Key proposals include introducing community legal and advice centres and networks in the most deprived communities, and expanding Community Legal Service Direct.
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Tribunal Reform in Northern Ireland
As part of a wider announcement on the Review of Public Administration in Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain MP, has announced that the administration of tribunals currently sponsored by NI departments is to become the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor and will form part of a new Courts and Tribunals Service.
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Patent Hearings Manual
An update to the Patent Hearings Manual was published in March to take account of changes in law and practice. For the first time a framework of competences for hearing officers, based on the Judicial Studies Board's Competence Framework for Chairman and Members of Tribunals, has been included.
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Precedent and Law Reporting in the Reformed Tribunal System
Professor Trevor Buck, from the University of Leicester, is undertaking a research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, that will examine the practice of the principal tribunal jurisdictions currently under the DCA's administration in respect of their precedent setting and law reporting functions.
Each tribunal President and advice service representatives will be interviewed and a synthesis of their various practices and views will be fed back to a conference of all the Presidents and the Senior President designate, Lord Justice Carnwath. A research report containing all the findings of the project and discussions from the conference will follow in addition to a number of scholarly articles.
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House of Lords Judgments in school exclusion cases
The House of Lords has recently issued two significant judgments concerning school exclusion cases:
- Ali (FC) (Respondent) v. Headteacher and Governors of Lord Grey School (Appellants) considered whether a child's exclusion from school contravened article 2 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, Right to education.
- R (on the application of Begum (by her litigation friend, Rahman)) (Respondent) v. Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School (Appellants) considered whether refusing to allow the child to come to school wearing a jilbab rather than the school uniform of a shalwar kameeze contravened her rights under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and article 2 of the First Protocol, Right to education.
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Housing: Proportionate Dispute Resolution
The Law Commission has published an issues paper with the aim of reviewing the law and practice on how housing disputes are resolved, and reforming it to make it simple, effective, fair and proportionate. The consultation on the issues paper will close on 11 July 2006 and anyone interested in this area of the law is encouraged to respond.
An online forum, hosted by the University of Kent has also been set up to facilitate discussion and comment on the paper
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Judicial Work Shadowing Scheme – Extension to Tribunals
The DCA set up the Judicial Work Shadowing Scheme in 1999. Its primary purpose is to encourage lawyers to consider applying for judicial appointment by giving them the opportunity to see what a judicial office holder does and how the court works from a judge's perspective.
Ten tribunals have signed up to be a part of the scheme, including the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal, the Care Standards Tribunal, the Office of Social Security & Child Support Commissioners, The Appeals Service (now Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal), the Combined Finance and Tax Tribunals, the Mental Health Review Tribunal, the Employment Tribunals (England & Wales), the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, the Residential Property Tribunal Service and the Immigration Services Tribunal. Caz Thomas, from the JSB Diversity Team explains to Adjust how the scheme has been extended to enable lawyers to see the work of tribunals.
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Training, appraisal and mentoring in tribunals
The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) completed its survey into the training, appraisal and mentoring arrangements in tribunals at the end of March. Tony Massally from the JSB outlines the initial findings.
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Users Focus :
Citizens Advice Specialist Support
Angela Williams, a Citizens Advice Specialist Support Worker and recent participant at the Council's User Support Workshops, talks to Adjust about her challenging role delivering specialist training to advice workers.
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SENDIST: Challenge or Opportunity
Mandy Williams, Chief Executive of PEACH (Parents for the Early Intervention of Autism and their families), talks to Adjust about the results of a recent in depth telephone survey to families about their experiences with SENDIST.
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Comment :
Appeals Service* Discussion Document:
The Adjudication Gap
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* The Appeals Service was renamed the Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal following the launch of the Tribunals Service in April 2006.
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"...DWP cannot escape from adjudication and good adjudication is rooted in justice, reason and reality."
Nick Warren, Regional Chairman of the Appeals Service (North West Region), has written a review of recent changes in decision-making practices in the Department for Work and Pensions. His review was subsequently adopted as a discussion document by the President and Regional Chairmen of the Appeals Service and is reproduced in Adjust by kind permission of the Appeals Service. It has also appeared in the Journal of Social Security Law (2006) 13 JSSL, Issue 2.
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The Judges' Council
Robert Carnwath, Senior President designate of Tribunals, talks to Adjust about the Judges' Council and the role of tribunal members, in light of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
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"Lay-members" or "non-legal members"?
"Non-legal members are not on tribunals just to make up the numbers..."
John Eames, a member of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, and former member of the Council on Tribunals, talks to Adjust about the role of non-legal members in tribunals in the light of the intended DCA review.
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