10 Preliminary hearing
1 Subject to paragraph (2) the secretary shall send to the appellant, the Bank and, in the case of an appeal under section 27(2) of the Act, to the institution concerned, a notice informing them of the time and place of the preliminary hearing which, unless the appellant and the Bank otherwise agree, shall be—
(i) not earlier than 21 days and not later than 35 days after the date of receipt by the secretary of the notice of appeal; and
(ii) not earlier than 5 days after the date on which the notice is sent.
2 There shall be no preliminary hearing of an appeal under section 29(3) of the Act unless the chairman otherwise directs.
3 The preliminary hearing shall be in private and shall be heard by the chairman.
4 The appellant and the Bank and, in the case of an appeal under section 27(2) of the Act, the institution concerned may appear at the preliminary hearing and may be represented by counsel or solicitor or by any other person.
5 The chairman shall give such directions as he considers necessary or desirable for the conduct of the appeal and shall fix the time and place of the hearing at the preliminary hearing or, if there is no preliminary hearing, by notice to the parties and, in the case of an appeal under section 27(2) of the Act, to the institution concerned.
6 Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (5) and subject to regulation 22(2), the chairman shall consider whether any matters contained in a notice of supplementary grounds of appeal submitted under regulation 8(3) should be disclosed to any other person and may direct accordingly.
7 Notwithstanding that the preliminary hearing shall be in private, the other members of the Tribunal may attend and a member of the Council on Tribunals or its Scottish Committee may attend in his capacity as such.