Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 ("TCEA 2007") Further amendments to the TCEA 2007
Paragraph 44(2) amends paragraph 3 of Schedule 5 (Tribunal Procedure Rules) so that it adds persons appointed under section 2(1) of the CA 2003 in addition to those appointed under section 40(1) of the TCEA 2007, as those persons who can be authorised to exercise the functions of the tribunal.
	Paragraph 44(3) further amends paragraph 3 of Schedule 5 (Tribunal Procedure Rules) so that it now provides for a person to exercise functions by virtue of procedure rules only if authorised by the Senior President of Tribunals or his delegate. The Senior President of Tribunals may delegate this authorisation function to one or more judicial office holders or members of court or tribunal staff. Independence is ensured for delegates who are members of court or tribunal staff by providing that when carrying out this function they are subject only to the direction of the Senior President of Tribunals or a judicial office holder nominated by the Senior President of Tribunals.
	Paragraph 44(8) makes clear that any reference to a ‘function’ that an authorised member of staff may carry out does not include:
any function involving authorising a person’s committal to prison;
any function involving authorising a person’s arrest;
any function of granting an injunction.
	This means that authorised staff will not be able to exercise any of these ‘excluded functions’ in the tribunals. Whether authorised staff may or may not exercise other functions, beyond those prohibited in this list, will be determined by rules made by the Tribunal Procedure Committee. The rules currently provide for staff to exercise judicial functions only with the approval of the Senior President of Tribunals.
	Paragraph 45 makes similar provision for a right of judicial reconsideration to that made for rules of court under new section 67C of the CA 2003. It requires the Tribunal Procedure Committee, when making procedure rules to allow certain functions to be carried out by authorised staff, to consider whether the rules should include a right to judicial reconsideration of the decisions made by an authorised officer in the exercise of those functions.
	New section 28A(4) of Schedule 5 to the TCEA 2007 additionally requires that, where the Tribunal Procedure Committee makes such rules but does not consider that the rules should include a right of reconsideration, it must inform the Lord Chancellor of its decision together with its reasons.