Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council ... - Consultation Hub

The Right First Time report has been of immense benefit to me. It points out a huge gap in public
sector accountability, one not yet remedied. My professional and public reputation has been ruined
with no presentation of evidence, no convened trial or tribunal, no right of complaint and no right of
appeal. There is no forum in which I may put counter factual material, material which I was denied
the right to place originally. This is despite all these avenues being stated to exist, but which do not
operationally function in public sector regulatory justice in Scotland. Topping this is the lack of
functioning of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman in these regards, yet whilst his office also
proclaims the opposite. Indeed he makes this a major feature of his current annual report of October
2011, whilst not replying to my report of January 2011 despite its major regulatory significance for
the gaps it has highlighted in the very areas he proclaims in his role as the central determining
figure in regulating public policy, evidence gathering and handling in regard of complaints.
The AJTC should not be abolished. Instead its powers should be extended to cover all regulatory
bodies in the public sector. These bodies have huge powers, particularly over professional
reputations. It is essential that they operate in accordance with due processes of established
evaluation methodologies and accepted precepts of administrative justice. They do not. It has
reached the point where mere assertion, in the form of a denunciation in a written report counts as
both evidence and adjudication, with no due processes occurring whatsoever, including empirical
observation and evidence gathering.
For these reasons I regard the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council as an essential body to
retain, and its remit should be extended such that tribunals and their operational safeguards come to
be deemed as the operational mechanisms of the adjudication functions of all regulatory, scrutiny
and audit bodies. They should all be subject to the AJTC or operated by it and indeed it could
replace the Ombudsman, such as here in Scotland the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, which
given its lamentable functioning would be the better body to abolish, since it has to give no account
of itself or its adjudications, may and does operate in entirely arbitrary and capricious fashion and
functions outwith the principles of administrative justice. The SPSO office will not even respond to
correspondence, not even when pertaining to its remits and responsibilities, and legitimate enquiry
as to the extent of its functions, as in the case of its remit for the Scottish school inspectorate, which
I have placed in correspondence, not replied to. The SPSO has thereby abolished the independent
accountability functions of Scottish public sector audit and regulation. Quite an achievement.
I note that an investigation into the functioning of ombudsman was scheduled as a forthcoming
project of the AJTC which is scheduled to fold in the event of abolition. It is essential that this
forthcoming investigative project of the AJTC does not fold and that it goes ahead.
For these reasons I regard that the AJTC should be retained, with indeed its role strengthened. I
have indicated that it could subsume and replace the role of ombudsmen, to provide an
accountability framework for regulatory justice of the pubic sector. I have considerable extra
supporting evidence in regard of the shortfalls of administrative justice in this sector, thereby
pointing to the need to strengthen the role and functions of the AJTC rather than weaken or abolish
them.
Yours sincerely
Niall MacKinnon
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