Tribunals are to be rationalised under one central government system with a more unified and cohesive corps of panel members - and the Council on Tribunals will metamorphose into a more powerful body - under government proposals published last week.

The White Paper - 'Transforming public services: complaints, redress and tribunals' - called for the creation of an Administrative Justice Council, based on the Council on Tribunals but with a broader advisory role over tribunals, ombudsmen and local government complaints.


It suggested streamlining the organisation of many tribunals and opening them to dispute resolution methods to offer users more choice.


A new post, senior president of tribunals, has already been established and last week the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, appointed Lord Justice Robert Carnwath as senior president designate.


Lord Newton of Braintree, the chairman of the Council on Tribunals, said: 'The wider remit of the new Administrative Justice Council will enable it to look strategically at systems of redress.' Lord Newton of Braintree, the chairman of the Council on Tribunals, said: 'The wider remit of the new Administrative Justice Council will enable it to look strategically at systems of redress.'<