Tribunal Competences - Qualities and Abilities in Action
The JSB’s Competence Framework for Chairmen and Members of Tribunals (pdf, 0.2MB) has been revised and Faye Windmill describes what prompted the review, how the work was conducted, and the amendments that have been made.
Background
In October 2002 the JSB published its Competence Framework for Chairmen and Members of Tribunals. The framework set out the skills, knowledge and behavioural attributes required to perform the judicial role in a tribunal jurisdiction. It was the product of extensive consultations including a programme of workshops for tribunal chairmen and members and discussions with Presidents, Training Heads, the Council and other interested parties, before publication.
Although the 2002 framework was not intended to be prescriptive, it has, nevertheless, been adopted by the majority of tribunal jurisdictions, in full or with adaptations, as the basis for their training programmes and as a foundation for their appraisal schemes. Indeed, the wide acceptance of the competences was one of the notable aspects to emerge from the JSB’s programme to evaluate the training, appraisal and mentoring provision within tribunals, the first phase of which, in the jurisdictions that constitute the Tribunals Service (TS), was completed in the summer of 2007.
Review
In February 2007, as the competences approached their fifth year in circulation, the JSB began work to review the framework. The JSB had always intended to review the competences after they had been in use for some years, but the review was, in part, prompted by a range of initiatives related to ‘judicial competence’. The Judicial Appointments Commission’s (JAC) Framework of Qualities and Abilities, was not in existence back in 2002. More recently, the JSB has been identifying the qualities and abilities needed by those who sit on the circuit and district benches and Professor Dame Hazel Genn QC’s report Tribunals for Diverse Users provided the Tribunals Committee with the impetus to look at the competences in a new light.
As if these factors alone were not enough, we also recognised the need for the competences to change, in order to reflect the contemporary tribunal environment being created through the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and the ongoing reform agenda.
Consultation
The review was undertaken by a small sub-group of the JSB’s Tribunals Committee, chaired by Godfrey Cole CBE, and comprising Yvette Genn, Mary Holmes and Stuart Vernon. Both the Council and the JAC were invited to join the group. Special mention must go to Mary Kane who acted as consultant to the working group and completed the draft revisions to the framework. The first step in the review was to consult Presidents, the Council and others on whether change was necessary and what form it should take. We asked three specific questions about the nature of the revisions to the framework: (1) whether equal treatment should remain as a stand-alone competence, (2) whether there should be a new headline competence devoted to case management, and (3) if the same action was warranted in respect of early dispute resolution (EDR). The responses revealed a clear groundswell of opinion against separate headline competences for EDR and case management. However, opinion was divided as to whether fair and equal treatment should remain as a stand alone competence, but the majority favoured assimilation into the other headline competences, which accorded with the advice received from the JSB’s Equal Treatment Advisory Committee (ETAC).
The new framework
The changes to the framework make too long a list to attempt an exhaustive exposition here. Suffice to say that the revised framework now has a new title, ‘Tribunal Competences – Qualities and Abilities in Action’. Whilst the title recognises that there is a strong link between the criteria identified by the JAC for appointment to a judicial role and the competences required following appointment to support training and development, the tribunal framework remains unique, particularly in its use of detailed performance indicators to aid appraisal. Appraisal has yet to become a feature of development in the circuit and district benches and that remains one of the main reasons for retaining separate JSB frameworks for now. The popular A5 booklet format of the first edition also remains.
We consider that the revised framework is now more reflective of the modern tribunal setting and this is due, in no small part, to the feedback received during the consultation process, most importantly from those who use the framework. The JSB is enormously grateful for all the contributions that have been made to the direction that the new framework has taken. The JSB is confident that the new framework will mirror the success of the first edition and will continue to set the benchmark for the common parts of the judicial role in tribunals, providing a firm basis for the judicial training and appraisal arrangements in all jurisdictions.
Future circulation
Work on the revised framework was completed in October 2007 following further wide consultation on the draft and it was used for the first time in JSB training at the appraisal skills seminar for the Valuation Tribunals at the beginning of November. The revised framework was launched formally at the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council’s launch event on 20 November 2007 and supplies sent to tribunals thereafter for their chairmen and members. Pull out copies will be included with the spring edition of the JSB’s Tribunals journal and it is also be available for download here (pdf, 0.2MB). Tribunals can request copies via email.