Part 1Tribunals and Inquiries
Chapter 1Tribunal judiciary: independence and Senior President
1Independence of tribunal judiciary
In section 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) (guarantee of continued judicial independence), after subsection (7) insert—
7A
In this section “the judiciary” also includes every person who—
a
holds an office listed in Schedule 14 or holds an office listed in subsection (7B), and
b
but for this subsection would not be a member of the judiciary for the purposes of this section.
7B
The offices are those of—
a
Senior President of Tribunals;
b
President of Employment Tribunals (Scotland);
c
Vice President of Employment Tribunals (Scotland);
d
member of a panel of chairmen of Employment Tribunals (Scotland);
e
member of a panel of members of employment tribunals that is not a panel of chairmen;
f
adjudicator appointed under section 5 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995.
2Senior President of Tribunals
1
Her Majesty may, on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, appoint a person to the office of Senior President of Tribunals.
2
Schedule 1 makes further provision about the Senior President of Tribunals and about recommendations for appointment under subsection (1).
3
A holder of the office of Senior President of Tribunals must, in carrying out the functions of that office, have regard to—
a
the need for tribunals to be accessible,
b
the need for proceedings before tribunals—
i
to be fair, and
ii
to be handled quickly and efficiently,
c
the need for members of tribunals to be experts in the subject-matter of, or the law to be applied in, cases in which they decide matters, and
d
the need to develop innovative methods of resolving disputes that are of a type that may be brought before tribunals.
4
In subsection (3) “tribunals” means—
a
the First-tier Tribunal,
b
the Upper Tribunal,
c
employment tribunals,F1 and
d
the Employment Appeal Tribunal, F2. . .
e
F2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .