The Chief Commissioner advised that Ms Anne Fenton had produced a comprehensive policy on oral hearings, the operation of which would be considered by the Legal Group at the end of April. Ms Laird asked what was wrong with the current system of fixing hearing dates and could this be articulated before we pilot the exercise. Joanne explained that during the last year 109 changes were made to single Commissioner and panel work. This is extremely disproportionate. The Commissioners felt that those concerned should be sanctioned if they withdraw from hearings. Ms Greenwood asked that all commissioners on Advisory Committee should represent their cadre of commissioners. Commissioners were asked to feed their suggestions into their elected representative in advisory. To facilitate this process the advisory papers would be circulated in advance to all commissioners. They would allow Commissioners to be better informed about what was being discussed. Action Point: Karen Weir to circulate all advisory papers to all commissioners in advance of advisory meeting. Circulation of Decisions do Commissioners want the decisions circulated or – would they prefer not to receive them? Some Commissioners wanted the decisions circulated, others did not. Commissioners felt that there should be a portal on the laptops that the Commissioners could have access to. This would allow these decisions to be stored, by article and date centrally. This would mean that decisions would not need to be circulated. Some Commissioners suggested that we send decisions out on a CD routinely. New Risk assessment framework commissioners to consider if this would – be useful. Not enough time to consider this area of work. – User Group needs further discussion, but this should be deferred until after – the user survey has been completed. Information Assurance; Commissioners are asked to take cognisance of the information assurance policy. They are now required to report any loss or breach immediately to the Secretary of the Commissioners. Efficiency savings; - where we might have some sensible suggestions. The Chief Commissioner wants to have possible negotiating tools for the forthcoming terms and conditions review as well as ensuring that we do not offer savings greater than required at present. The independent assessment of the CJINI group has shown that we have made some substantial savings and are working hard to work smarter. A summary of the groups’ considerations is attached at Annex A.
The Chief Commissioner advised that Ms Anne Fenton had produced a comprehensive policy on oral hearings, the operation of which would be considered by the Legal Group at the end of April. Ms Laird asked what was wrong with the current system of fixing hearing dates and could this be articulated before we pilot the exercise. Joanne explained that during the last year 109 changes were made to single Commissioner and panel work. This is extremely disproportionate. The Commissioners felt that those concerned should be sanctioned if they withdraw from hearings. Ms Greenwood asked that all commissioners on Advisory Committee should represent their cadre of commissioners. Commissioners were asked to feed their suggestions into their elected representative in advisory. To facilitate this process the advisory papers would be circulated in advance to all commissioners. They would allow Commissioners to be better informed about what was being discussed. Action Point: Karen Weir to circulate all advisory papers to all commissioners in advance of advisory meeting. Circulation of Decisions – do Commissioners want the decisions circulated or would they prefer not to receive them? Some Commissioners wanted the decisions circulated, others did not. Commissioners felt that there should be a portal on the laptops that the Commissioners could have access to. This would allow these decisions to be stored, by article and date centrally. This would mean that decisions would not need to be circulated. Some Commissioners suggested that we send decisions out on a CD routinely. New Risk assessment framework – commissioners to consider if this would be useful. – Not enough time to consider this area of work. User Group – needs further discussion, but this should be deferred until after the user survey has been completed. Information Assurance; Commissioners are asked to take cognisance of the information assurance policy. They are now required to report any loss or breach immediately to the Secretary of the Commissioners. Efficiency savings; - where we might have some sensible suggestions. The Chief Commissioner wants to have possible negotiating tools for the forthcoming terms and conditions review as well as ensuring that we do not offer savings greater than required at present. The independent assessment of the CJINI group has shown that we have made some substantial savings and are working hard to work smarter. A summary of the groups’ considerations is attached at Annex A.
2014-Plenary-Minutes.DOCX