Procedure
9. We intend the Commissioner's procedure to be as informal as possible, subject to the requirement that if he takes up a case he must give to the person against whom the complaint lies the opportunity to comment on it. He will be empowered to decide whether the parties can be legally represented, but legal representation will be the exception, not the rule. Legal aid will not be available. The Commissioner will be able to call for oral or written evidence; and he will have power to compel production of documents, including departments' minutes, but excluding Cabinet or Cabinet Committee documents. He will have power to take evidence on oath, although we would expect this power to be used infrequently. In this connection the sanction to be invoked in the event of defiance of the Commissioner will be to refer the matter to the High Court, or in Scotland to the Court of Session, or in Northern Ireland to the Supreme Court of Justice, for consideration as if it were contempt of that Court.
10. The Commissioner will have discretion to refuse to pursue a case where he thinks there are insufficient grounds for the complaint or where he does not regard it as within his scope. He will not normally pursue a case where the matter complained of had been known to the complainant more than twelve months previously but he will have discretion to do so.
11. The Commissioner will be concerned with faults in administration. It will not be for him to criticise policy, or to examine a decision on the exercise of discretionary powers, unless it appears to him that the decision has been affected by a fault in administration. If he finds nothing wrong, he will inform the Member of Parliament who has approached him. If he finds that there is justifiable cause for complaint and the Department responds to his invitation to put it right, he will inform the Member. So far as the Commissioner is concerned, this will be the end of the matter, save for a possible reference to the case in his annual report to Parliament. If the Department does not act to the Commissioner's satisfaction, it will be open to him to report his conclusion to Parliament ad hoc.
12. It will be for Parliament to decide what arrangements to make to receive and act upon reports from the Commissioner. This will not be a matter for legislation. It may well be found convenient to establish a Select Committee to take these reports in the first instance. This Committee would have the usual powers of a Select Committee to summon witnesses (including Ministers) and to take evidence and report to Parliament.
13. It will be for Parliament, with the help of this Committee (if one is appointed), to consider what action should be taken on the reports of the Commissioner-whether the annual report, or reports ad hoc. The Commis- sioner in his annual report may comment on defects in the system which have come to his notice as a result of investigating individual complaints.
14. We do not intend that a reference to the Commissioner should auto- matically hold up action on the case by the Government; sometimes this might be contrary to the public interest. Ministers will have discretion to proceed with a case even where it is being examined by the Commissioner. They will also have discretion to prevent disclosure of information by the Commissioner where the safety of the State or the public interest makes it necessary to do so.
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