Index for "Updates"
Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board:
Efficient and effective changes to Disciplinary
arrangements -- The Accountancy & Actuarial
Discipline Board ("AADB") is the independent,
investigative and di...
The procedure for the appointment of an
arbitrator exists at least in part for the
protection of the parties to the arbitration. A
departure from the procedure would render the award
a nullity: Sumuka...
Bar Standards Board - the future of the Bar's
complaints and disciplinary processes -- The Bar
Standards Board was established in January 2006 as
a result of the Bar Council separating its
regulatory ...
Misuse of office can obviously bring disrepute
on the office, but personal misconduct will be
unlikely to do so. Per Collins J in Livingstone v
Adjudication Panel for England
[2006] EWHC 2533 (Admin)....
It has been held that the standard to be
expected of a doctor is ‘that applicable to the
post to which he was appointed and the work he was
carrying out.’ Holton v General Medical Council
[2006] E...
It has been said that ‘it is well-established
that the role of a legal assessor assisting a
disciplinary panel is not analogous to that of a
judge summing up in a criminal trial. In R
(Campbell) v. ...
It has been said that there can be ‘no
reasonable objection to the Solicitor’s
Disciplinary Tribunal reading ( the judgment of a
Chancery Judge in a related matter ), provided it
was clear and rig...
The practice of taking a formal plea of guilty
is not inconsistent with Article 6 of the ECHR: X v
UK (Application no 5076/71). March 1972; Revitt,
Borg and Barnes v Director of Public Prosecutions
[2...
All but the most informal tribunals have some
arrangement for recording their proceedings. This
may take the form of written minutes or a
mechanical recording. Both must be subject to
challenge and co...
The comment of Moses LJ in Baxendale Walker v
The Law Society
[2006] EWHC 643 that, ‘Absent dishonesty or
lack of good faith a costs order should not be made
against a regulator unless there is good...
In Attorney General of Gibraltar v Shimidzu
(Andrew Ivan Berllaque, Intervenor)
(2005) 20 BHRC 223 the Privy Council expressed
the view that, 'The jurisprudence on the European
Convention lends no sup...
In the case of an interim order against a
doctor, Article 6 of the ECHR is not normally
engaged. All that is required is that the tribunal
acts speedily and on the basis of credible
evidence: R (on th...
The courts are increasingly stressing the
importance of tribunals considering all sanctions
before imposing a greater sanction. For example, a
finding of the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal
Colleg...
In an appeal against a statutory intervention
order made by the Law Society remarks were made
which would seem to have a wider application than
their particular context. -- The making of an
interventi...
The proper approach to the award of costs for
proceedings before the Disciplinary Committee of
the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and other
professional bodies was summarised by the Judicial
Com...
There could be no general rule that the
tribunal should not impose an order for costs in
addition to an order for the suspension of a
solicitor. Whether or not an order for costs, in
addition to a sus...
‘…(W)here an apparently sensible appeal
structure has been put in place, the court is
entitled to approach the matter on the basis that
the parties should have been taken have agreed to
accept wha...
On 24 October 2007 the
Data Protection Act 1998 was amended in many
important respects by the
Data Protection Act 2003.
In the case of Spiers v Ruddy (Scotland)
[2007] UKPC D2 the House of Lords held that there
is nothing in Article 6 of the ECHR to prevent a
continuation of delayed proceedings, even if they
have not b...
‘One of the elements of the broader concept of
a fair trial is the principle of equality of arms,
which requires each party to be given a reasonable
opportunity to present his or her case under
cond...
The decision of the Court of Appeal in
Bultitude (Bultitude v Law Society
[2004] EWCA Civ 1853) stands as binding
authority that the test to be applied in the
context of solicitors' disciplinary proce...
The absence of any common law double jeopardy
rule in professional misconduct proceedings was
specifically noted in the case of R v Statutory
Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain [...
Where the issues in a civil action overlap to
a significant degree with those in disciplinary
proceedings (in this case a finding of dishonesty)
and it would be expensive and time-consuming to
require...
The Social Security Commissioner has given the
following guidance on how the evidence of an
approved disability analyst should be assessed. --
1. In so far as the advice consists of an
explanation, it...
The fact that a witness who gives an opinion
has not examined, or even seen, the claimant does
not render the evidence inadmissible. It is,
though, relevant to the value that the tribunal may
give to ...
The scope of the right to freedom of
expression under Article 10 of the European
Convention were comprehensively reviewed by the
European Court of Human Rights in the case of Kulis
v Poland - 15601/02...
Advice on the interaction of the Freedom of
Information and the Data Protection laws was given
in the House of Lords in a Scottish context. It was
said that, -- ‘There is much force in Lord
Marnoch'...
The Privy Council rarely if ever had witnesses
give evidence before it in appeals from decisions
of the GMC. There is no reason to believe that when
Parliament provided that such appeals should come
t...
Rashid v. General Medical Council, Fatani v.
GMC
(2007) 1 WLR 1460 -- 4. These two appeals from
the GMC Fitness to Practice Panel reaffirmed the
principal purpose of the Panel namely the
preservation ...
The approach of the High Court to reviewing
sanctions imposed by the Fitness to Practice Panel
of the GMC were summarized by Laws LJ (with whom
Chadwick LJ and Sir Peter Gibson agreed), in the
case of...
A power to admit hearsay evidence in
disciplinary proceedings is not necessarily
incompatible with The European Convention on Human
Rights. -- Article 6(3) of the Convention provides
that ‘everyone ...
The existence of impartiality for the purposes
of Article 6§1 of the European Convention of Human
Rights must be determined according to a subjective
test, that is on the basis of the personal
convic...
General Medical Council v. Hiew
[2007] 1 WLR 2007 -- 1. This case before the
Court of Appeal considered the criteria for the
exercise of the powers to extend interim suspension
order made by the GMC�...
‘Once upon a time the question was posed in
terms of an asserted dichotomy between provisions
compliance with which is mandatory and provisions
that are merely directory. That is no longer
treated a...
The existence of a contractual relationship is
not inconsistent with judicial review. Per Stanley
Burnton J in Mullins, R (on the application of) v
The Jockey Club
[2005] EWHC 2197 (Admin). Local auth...
In R (Campbell) v GMC [2005] EWCA Civ. 250 the
Court of Appeal affirmed Lord Hailsham's
propositions in Libman v GMC
[1972] AC 217 as governing the approach that
any court should adopt to the role of ...
The requirements of a fair trial are not
necessarily infringed if the legal assessor retires
with the tribunal; but the parties must be given an
opportunity to make representations on the advice
given...
'... the same underlying principles (of
suitability for membership) apply to conduct both
pre-admission and post-admission. It would be
irrational to hold that a different test applies
where matters c...
After reviewing the authorities, Jackson J.
summarized the law as follows: -- (1) Mere
negligence does not constitute "misconduct" within
the meaning of section 35C(2)(a) of the
Medical Act 1983. Neve...
Under
the Higher Education Act 2004 the Office of the
Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA)
has been designated the body responsible for
dealing with student complaints. The purpose of
th...
By virtue of the
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000,
section 225 the Financial Ombudsman Service
provides a service "under which … disputes may be
resolved quickly and with minimum formality". ...
To the extent that they decided that evidence
exclusively relevant to personal mitigation could
be considered by the Committee when deciding
whether serious professional misconduct was proved,
the dec...
R (on the application of Wright and others) v
Secretary of State for Health and another
[2007] EWCA Civ 99;
[2008] 1 All ER 886 CA -- The
Care Standards Act 2000 introduced a list for
the protection o...
In the case of L v The Law Society
[2008] EWCA Civ 811 it was held that: The
existence of prior convictions, either spent or
unspent, is not of itself sufficient to amount to
an exceptional circumstan...
There has been a recent decision of the
Information Commissioner which impacts on the
ability of the FSA and other regulators to resolve
regulatory issues privately without the need to
follow a public...
An important decision of the Information
Commissioner will potentially affect the practice
of many disciplinary and regulatory bodies. -- A
complainant requested the Financial Services
Authority (FSA)...
Professional incompetence -- ‘The (
Architects
Act 1997) distinguishes between serious
professional incompetence and unacceptable
professional conduct. However, as must be obvious,
there is a conside...
The Society of Lloyds is not a public
authority for the purposes of section 6 of the
Human Rights Act 1998: Doll-Steinberg v Society
of Lloyd’s
[2002] EWHC 419 (Admin).
Section 6 of the
Human Rights Act 1998 is intended to give
effective domestic protection to convention rights
as defined in and scheduled to the 1998 Act. It is
accordingly appropriate to give a gener...
For an instance of the retrospective
application of disciplinary proceedings to events
which came to light only after registration see the
case of Lewis, R (On The Application Of) v
Prosthetists & Ort...
Guidance on the imposition of sanctions on
solicitors was recently given by the High Court. --
‘In Nahal v The Law Society
[2003] EWHC 2186 Admin, Dyson LJ considered the
effect of the Human Rights ...
The
Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules
2007 came into force on 14 January 2008.
"I think that the courts must be slow to
allow an implied obligation to be fair to be used
as a means of bringing before the court for review
honest decisions of bodies exercising jurisdiction
over...
A recent opinion of the Appellate Committee of
the House of Lords has gone a long way to
clarifying the standard of proof in certain civil
proceedings. Lord Hoffmann’s opinion, from which
the extrac...
'I cannot see any reason why, in these
circumstances, a breach of the Rules, a failure by
the Council to observe the Rules, which it has
publicly proclaimed as the basis upon which it, a
public body, ...
The existence of impartiality (of a judge) for
the purposes of Article 6 § 1 must be determined
according to a subjective test, that is on the
basis of the personal conviction of a particular
judge i...
The European Convention on Human Rights would
not appear to require any degree of independence on
the part of the prosecutor: Haase, R (on the
application of) v Independent Adjudicator & Ors
[2007] EW...
It is suggested that the following dictum of
Treacy J in Robinson v Abergavenny Magistrates'
Court
[2007] EWHC 2005 (Admin) should be regarded as
of equal application to disciplinary proceedings,
exce...
‘I appreciate that the Guidance is just that -
guidance, not a list of mandatory requirements, but
it will almost invariably be the appropriate
starting point from which a departure may, or may
not ...
Sir Thomas Bingham’s approach to the use of
sanctions has been applied in relation to other
professions (see Tait v. The Royal College of
Veterinary Surgeons
[2003] UKPC 34; Archbold v. The Royal Co...
‘The (Architects) Act distinguishes between
serious professional incompetence and unacceptable
professional conduct. However, as must be obvious,
there is a considerable overlap between the two and
...
In Selvarajan v General Medical Council
[2008] EWHC 182 (Admin) Blake J. held that: --
the passage of time at common law and unreasonable
delay in prosecuting proceedings for the purpose of
Article 6 ...
‘In my judgment, duplicity is not a basis for
interfering with a disciplinary finding ...,
although of course it may be relevant to the
fairness of the proceedings and to the ultimate
penalty if cha...
A new regulatory body called The Complementary
and Natural Healthcare Council is due to launch in
April 2008. -- For information contact Natasha
Finlayson, Communications Director, The Prince’s
Foun...
As Stanley Burnton J. Observed in the case of
Land & Ors, R (on the application of) v
Executive Counsel of the Joint Disciplinary Scheme
[2002] EWHC 2086 (Admin): -- ‘The Divisional
Court in R v Cha...
‘(I)n each of the instances identified in the
six subsections (of section 43(b)(1) of the
Employment Rights Act 1996), the whistle-blower
has to establish a reasonable belief that the
information be...
‘The exception to the rule governing without
prejudice communications has at its heart an abuse
of a privileged occasion. Moreover, it is an
exemption which will rarely be found to be
applicable. Th...