Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Complaints and referencesU.K.

99Complaints: interpretationU.K.

(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 his department in connection with any of the following—

(a)selection under this Part;

(b)recommendation for or appointment to an office listed in Schedule 14.

[F1(3A)An LCJ complaint is a complaint by a qualifying complainant of maladministration by the Lord Chief Justice or the Lord Chief Justice's nominee, or anyone acting on behalf of either of them, in connection with—

(a)selection under this Part for an office listed in Table 2 of Part 1 or 2 of Schedule 14,

(b)appointment to an office listed in Table 2 of Part 2 of that Schedule, or

(c)selection under this Part for membership of a pool for requests under section 9(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981,

or of maladministration by the Lord Chief Justice or the Master of the Rolls or the Lord Chief Justice's nominee, or anyone acting on behalf of any of them, in connection with the making of requests under section 9(1) of that Act.

(3B)An SPT complaint is a complaint by a qualifying complainant of maladministration by the Senior President of Tribunals or a person to whom the Senior President has delegated functions, or anyone acting on behalf of either of them, in connection with—

(a)selection under this Part for an office listed in Table 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 14 or in Table 2 of Part 3 of that Schedule, or

(b)appointment to an office listed in Table 2 of Part 3 of that Schedule.]

(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.

100Complaints to the Commission or the Lord ChancellorU.K.

(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.

[F2(2A)The Lord Chief Justice must make arrangements for investigating any LCJ complaint made to the Lord Chief Justice.

(2B)The Senior President of Tribunals must make arrangements for investigating any SPT complaint made to the Senior President of Tribunals.]

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

101Complaints to the OmbudsmanU.K.

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

(a)has made to the Commission [F3, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] in accordance with arrangements under section 100, and

(b)makes to the Ombudsman not more than 28 days after being notified of the [F4decision of the Commission, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] 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 [F5, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] in accordance with arrangements under section 100, 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 appointment procedures 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.

102Report and recommendationsU.K.

(1)The Ombudsman must prepare a report on any complaint he has investigated under section 101.

(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 [F6, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] 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 [F7, or selected for membership of a pool,] to which the complaint related.

103Report procedureU.K.

(1)This section applies to a report under section 102.

[F8(2)The Ombudsman must submit a draft of the report to the Lord Chancellor and to—

(a)the Commission if the complaint was a Commission complaint;

(b)the Lord Chief Justice if the complaint was an LCJ complaint;

(c)the Senior President of Tribunals if the complaint was an SPT complaint.]

(3)In finalising the report the Ombudsman—

(a)must have regard to any proposal by the Lord Chancellor [F9the Commission, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] 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.

[F10(5A)If the complaint was an LCJ complaint the Ombudsman must send the report in duplicate to the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice.

(5B)If the complaint was an SPT complaint the Ombudsman must send the report in duplicate to the Lord Chancellor and the Senior President of Tribunals.]

(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 139.

104References by the Lord ChancellorU.K.

(1)If the Lord Chancellor [F11, the Lord Chief Justice or the Senior President of Tribunals] 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 [F12, the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals] 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.

105InformationU.K.

The Commission [F13, the Lord Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals] and the Lord Chancellor must provide the Ombudsman with such information as he may reasonably require relating to the subject matter of any investigation by him under section 101 or 104.