Petition · PE01449 · Session 4
Maintenance of a Scottish Council for Administrative Justice
Signatures
10
Comments
0
Considered
7 meetings
What it asks
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to preserve an independent Scottish Administrative Justice Council when the UK AJTC system is abolished, ensuring the new body has a critical user-interface to enable base-roots input from the public and that it has complete independence from political or civil service influence.
What the petitioner did first
Accountability Scotland was formed in the Autumn of 2011 at the time when the Scottish Government consultation on replacement of the AJTC was taking place, so we had no knowledge of this until after the December deadline.
We have examined the information from the UK Public Administration Select Committee (8 March 2012, see summary in press release Appendix 4: “PASC CHALLENGES GOVERNMENT OVER PLANS TO ABOLISH ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE AND TRIBUNALS COUNCIL (AJTC)”).
We have studied the consultation response of CONSUMER FOCUS SCOTLAND (2011, see appendix 3).
No action has been possible apart from contacting a number of interested MSPs and legal experts in the field of Administrative Justice. Fiona McLeod MSP had sufficient concern to table a related question to be put to the SPCB (due to her illness this has been delayed). Roseanna Cunningham MSP responded via her officials who outlined the current decision-making delay. Jamie Hepburn MSP stated that he would take into account our concerns in the debate on the issue in Parliament. Support also comes from internationally respected specialists in Administrative Justice: Professor Adler, Professor Mullen and Richard Henderson (Chair of the Scottish Committee of AJTC).
Because of the need to ensure that a body exists that has oversight of the administrative justice of the operations of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), we have established what existing bodies can ensure accountability of the SPSO. We have discovered that only the AJTC has a clear brief to examine the fairness of the SPSO’s systems. The AJTC is the only independent body that can report to Parliament on this and other matters of Administrative Justice.
Accountability Scotland has been in contact with Prof Adler of Edinburgh University who is a senior AJTC member. Both he and Richard Henderson are hopeful about the outcome of this petition. In particular we have discussed in detail with Professor Tom Mullen of Glasgow University and he strongly supports this petition.
We wrote to Roseanna Cunningham MSP in March 2012 asking for the retention of a Scottish Administrative Justice body and we await a clear response.
We have examined the information from the UK Public Administration Select Committee (8 March 2012, see summary in press release Appendix 4: “PASC CHALLENGES GOVERNMENT OVER PLANS TO ABOLISH ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE AND TRIBUNALS COUNCIL (AJTC)”).
We have studied the consultation response of CONSUMER FOCUS SCOTLAND (2011, see appendix 3).
No action has been possible apart from contacting a number of interested MSPs and legal experts in the field of Administrative Justice. Fiona McLeod MSP had sufficient concern to table a related question to be put to the SPCB (due to her illness this has been delayed). Roseanna Cunningham MSP responded via her officials who outlined the current decision-making delay. Jamie Hepburn MSP stated that he would take into account our concerns in the debate on the issue in Parliament. Support also comes from internationally respected specialists in Administrative Justice: Professor Adler, Professor Mullen and Richard Henderson (Chair of the Scottish Committee of AJTC).
Because of the need to ensure that a body exists that has oversight of the administrative justice of the operations of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), we have established what existing bodies can ensure accountability of the SPSO. We have discovered that only the AJTC has a clear brief to examine the fairness of the SPSO’s systems. The AJTC is the only independent body that can report to Parliament on this and other matters of Administrative Justice.
Accountability Scotland has been in contact with Prof Adler of Edinburgh University who is a senior AJTC member. Both he and Richard Henderson are hopeful about the outcome of this petition. In particular we have discussed in detail with Professor Tom Mullen of Glasgow University and he strongly supports this petition.
We wrote to Roseanna Cunningham MSP in March 2012 asking for the retention of a Scottish Administrative Justice body and we await a clear response.
Where it was considered
Official Report-
18 Sep 20121 mention
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25 Sep 20121 mention
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12 Mar 20132 mentions
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4 Jun 20131 mention
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18 Feb 20141 mention
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3 Jun 20141 mention
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4 Nov 20141 mention
Signatures by country
No online signatures are recorded for this petition; the total above may include paper signatures.
Comments
No public comments.