Administrative Justice

Description of impact

Administrative justice concerns the relationship between citizens and the state including good first instance decision-making in public bodies and appropriate redress mechanisms for addressing grievances against these bodies. The current research has impacted on Welsh and UK Government policy addressing the design of redress mechanisms and systems such as tribunals, the Administrative Court, and the role of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and various Welsh Commissioners. It has also provided evidence contributing to arguments for and against establishing a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales and has impacted on the formation of justice policy in Wales and proposals for legislative reform. It has impacted on amendments to the Wales Bill, and to the Law Commission's Report on the Form and Accessibility of Law Applicable in Wales. It has led to the development of a set of Administrative Justice Principles for Wales that are informing work of Welsh Government and training sessions for members of the judiciary including the new Welsh Language Tribunal.

Description of the underpinning research

Bringing together policy-makers, practitioners and researchers to develop evidenced-based reforms to the administrative justice system in Wales in comparative perspective with other devolved UK jurisdictions, European and international legal jurisdictions. The research also focuses in detail on the specific role of the Administrative Court in Wales, the market for public law legal services and the pros and cons of establishing a separate Welsh legal jurisdiction. Research activities have included data collection, collation and analysis of Administrative Court data (annually from 2013 – on-going), desk-based research, two ‘stakeholder’ workshops (one in Bangor one in Cardiff each with 30 delegates including Welsh Government Justice Policy Department members, judges, barristers, solicitors, third sector advice providers, HMCTS and MoJ management, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Welsh Commissioners and academics). There has been a series of meetings with the Welsh Government Justice Policy Department, Committee on Administrative Justice and Tribunals Wales (CAJTW) and Welsh Tribunal Unit management. Interviews have been conducted with senior members of the judiciary, the head of policy and campaigns for CAB Cymru and the Welsh member of the Judicial Appointments Commission. A major international conference was held in September 2015 bringing together 15 expert speakers from a range of legal jurisdictions both UK, European and international, this was attended by 85 delegates (a range of policy-makers, practitioners and academics). A survey of all AMs and Welsh MPs was conducted aiming to assess their understanding of some basic administrative justice issues, there have also been some interviews with AMs and MPs. Attendance at stakeholder meetings with the Wales Office, Ministry of Justice, Welsh Government Justice Working Group, and Law Commission Welsh Committee.

Beneficiaries and reach of impact

All those who use public services in Wales; Welsh Government & Welsh Assembly; public bodies in Wales, legal practitioners, judges, PSOW, Welsh Commissioners, other redress providers, potential adoption of reforms by other jurisdictions thus widening impact internationally

General Notes

Attached case study as it was in December 2015, but there has also been a huge amount of movement on it this year in terms of engagement activities and impact. It has now impacted on Welsh Government policy, there has been an impact on draft legislation (the Wales Bill currently going through the House of Lords), it has impacted on the Law Commission (a much awaited response from Welsh Government due end of this year will also see whether that then impacts on further legislation in Wales), there is also developing impact on UK Government policy and I have been training judges.

Impact status	Ongoing
Category of impact	Policy and Public Services