Commentary on Sections: Part 1
Section 2
38.Section 2 creates a new statutory judicial post - that of Senior President of Tribunals. The post is intended to provide unified leadership to the tribunals judiciary. The creation of the post was recommended by Sir Andrew Leggatt in his review.
39.Subsection (1) stipulates that the Senior President is to be appointed by HM the Queen on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor.
40.The Act creates a number of specific powers and duties for the Senior President, including:
his concurrence in relation to the chambers structure for the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal (and any change in it) (section 7(1));
that he may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, make provision for the allocation of functions between chambers (section 7(9));
his duty to report to the Lord Chancellor on matters which the Senior President wishes to bring to the attention of the Lord Chancellor and matters which the Lord Chancellor has asked the Senior President to cover (section 43);
his power to make practice directions (section 23);
the right to be consulted on the making of fees orders (section 42(5));
his concurrence in relation to the making of orders prescribing the qualifications required for appointment of members of the First-tier Tribunal (Schedule 2, paragraph 2(2)) and the Upper Tribunal (Schedule 3, paragraph 2(2));
the power to request a judge of the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal to act as a judge of those tribunals (Schedule 2 paragraph 6(2); Schedule 3 paragraph 6(2));
the duty to maintain appropriate arrangements for training, welfare and guidance of judges and other members (Schedule 2 paragraph 8; Schedule 3 paragraph 9);
the duty to co-operate with the Lord Chief Justices of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Lord President in relation to the training, welfare and guidance of the tribunals judiciary (section 47);
the power to take oaths of allegiance and judicial oaths (or to nominate someone to do so) from judges and other members of the First-tier and Upper Tribunal (Schedule 2 paragraph 9, and Schedule 3 paragraph 10) and Chamber Presidents, Deputy Chamber Presidents and Acting Chamber presidents (Schedule 4, paragraph 8). Employment tribunal presidents and panel members, and their counterparts in the EAT are covered in Schedule 8 (paragraphs 40 and 44), as are Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP) adjudicators (at paragraph 34);
the right to be consulted before the Lord Chancellor appoints a Chamber President from among the ranks of the judiciary (Schedule 4, paragraph 2(1));
the power to assign judges and other members to chambers (Schedule 4, paragraph 9);
being or nominating a member of the Tribunal Procedure Committee (it is expected that the Senior President or his nominee will chair the Committee) (Schedule 5 paragraph 20);
the power to request the appointment of additional members of the Tribunal Procedure Committee (Schedule 5 paragraph 24).
41.Subsection (3) sets out principles that the Senior President has to have regard to when exercising the powers of the office. These criteria are based on the long-standing principles underlying the jurisdiction of tribunals, as originally articulated by the Report of the Committee on Administrative Tribunals and Inquiries in 1957 (the Franks Report).
