Valid from 25/09/2006

[F1The OmbudsmanN.I.

9AJudicial Appointments OmbudsmanN.I.

(1)There is to be a Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Ombudsman.

(2)The Ombudsman is appointed by Her Majesty on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.

(3)Schedule 3A makes further provision about the Ombudsman.

[F29BComplaints: interpretationN.I.

(1)This section applies for the purposes of this Part.

(2)A Commission complaint is a complaint by a qualifying complainant of maladministration by the Commission or a committee of the Commission.

(3)A departmental complaint is a complaint by a qualifying complainant of maladministration by the Lord Chancellor or the Northern Ireland Court Service in connection with any of the following—

(a)recommendation for or appointment to a listed judicial office;

(b)appointment under section 2 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 as a Commissioner for the general purposes of the income tax for Northern Ireland.

(4)A qualifying complainant is a complainant who claims to have been adversely affected, as an applicant for selection or as a person selected under this Part, by the maladministration complained of.]

[F39CComplaints to the Commission or the Lord ChancellorN.I.

(1)The Commission must make arrangements for investigating any Commission complaint made to it.

(2)The Lord Chancellor must make arrangements for investigating any departmental complaint made to him.

(3)Arrangements under this section need not apply to a complaint made more than 28 days after the matter complained of.]

[F49DComplaints to the OmbudsmanN.I.

(1)Subsections (2) and (3) apply to a complaint which the complainant—

(a)has made to the Commission or Lord Chancellor in accordance with arrangements under section 9C, and

(b)makes to the Ombudsman not more than 28 days after being notified of the Commission's or Lord Chancellor's decision on the complaint.

(2)If the Ombudsman considers that investigation of the complaint is not necessary, he must inform the complainant.

(3)Otherwise he must investigate the complaint.

(4)The Ombudsman may investigate a complaint which the complainant—

(a)has made to the Commission or the Lord Chancellor in accordance with arrangements under section 9C, and

(b)makes to the Ombudsman at any time.

(5)The Ombudsman may investigate a transferred complaint made to him, and no such complaint may be made under the Judicial Appointments Order after the commencement of this section.

(6)The Judicial Appointments Order is the Judicial Appointments Order in Council 2001, which sets out the functions of Her Majesty's Commissioners for Judicial Appointments.

(7)A transferred complaint is a complaint that lay to those Commissioners (whether or not it was made to them) in respect of the application of procedures for appointment to listed judicial offices before the commencement of this section, but not a complaint that those Commissioners had declined to investigate or on which they had concluded their investigation.

(8)Any complaint to the Ombudsman under this section must be in a form approved by him.]

[F59EReport and recommendationsN.I.

(1)The Ombudsman must prepare a report on any complaint he has investigated under section 9D.

(2)The report must state—

(a)what findings the Ombudsman has made;

(b)whether he considers the complaint should be upheld in whole or part;

(c)if he does, what if any action he recommends should be taken by the Commission or the Lord Chancellor as a result of the complaint.

(3)The recommendations that may be made under subsection (2)(c) include recommendations for the payment of compensation.

(4)Such a recommendation must relate to loss which appears to the Ombudsman to have been suffered by the complainant as a result of maladministration and not as a result of any failure to be appointed to an office to which the complaint related.]

[F69FReport procedureN.I.

(1)This section applies to a report under section 9E.

(2)The Ombudsman must submit a draft of the report—

(a)to the Lord Chancellor, and

(b)if the complaint was a Commission complaint, to the Commission.

(3)In finalising the report the Ombudsman—

(a)must have regard to any proposal by the Lord Chancellor or the Commission for changes in the draft report;

(b)must include in the report a statement of any such proposal not given effect to.

(4)The report must be signed by the Ombudsman.

(5)If the complaint was a Commission complaint the Ombudsman must send the report in duplicate to the Lord Chancellor and the Commission.

(6)Otherwise the Ombudsman must send the report to the Lord Chancellor.

(7)The Ombudsman must send a copy of the report to the complainant, but that copy must not include information—

(a)which relates to an identified or identifiable individual other than the complainant, and

(b)whose disclosure by the Ombudsman to the complainant would (apart from this subsection) be contrary to section 9I.]

[F79GReferences by the Lord ChancellorN.I.

(1)If the Lord Chancellor refers to the Ombudsman any matter relating to the procedures of the Commission or a committee of the Commission, the Ombudsman must investigate it.

(2)The matter may relate to such procedures generally or in a particular case.

(3)The Ombudsman must report to the Lord Chancellor on any investigation under this section.

(4)The report must state—

(a)what findings the Ombudsman has made;

(b)what if any action he recommends should be taken by any person in relation to the matter.

(5)The report must be signed by the Ombudsman.]

[F89HInformationN.I.

The Commission and the Lord Chancellor must provide the Ombudsman with such information as he may reasonably require relating to the subject matter of an investigation under section 9D or 9G.]]