Regulation 26 Procedure at inquiry
Except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, the appointed person is to determine the procedure at an inquiry.
At the start of the inquiry the appointed person must identify the issues which are, in the opinion of the appointed person, the main issues to be considered at the inquiry and any matters on which the appointed person requires further explanation from the persons entitled or permitted to take part.
Nothing in paragraph (2) is to preclude any person entitled or permitted to take part from referring to issues which they consider relevant to the consideration of the application or appeal but which were not issues identified by the appointed person pursuant to that paragraph.
Unless in any particular case the appointed person otherwise determines, the respondent is to begin and the appellant is to have the right of final reply; and the other persons entitled or permitted to take part are to be heard in such order as the appointed person may determine.
A person entitled to take part in an inquiry is to be entitled to call evidence and the appellant, the respondent and any interested person is to be entitled to cross-examine persons giving evidence, but, subject to the foregoing and paragraphs (6) and (7), the calling of evidence and the cross-examination of persons giving evidence is otherwise to be at the discretion of the appointed person.
The appointed person may refuse to permit the:
giving or production of evidence;
cross-examination of persons giving evidence; or
presentation of any other matter,
which the appointed person considers to be irrelevant or repetitious; but where the appointed person refuses to permit the giving of oral evidence, the person wishing to give the evidence may submit to the appointed person any evidence or other matter in writing before the close of the inquiry.
Where a person gives evidence at an inquiry by reading a summary of a proof of evidence in accordance with regulation 24(5):
the proof of evidence referred to in regulation 24(1) must be treated as tendered in evidence, unless the person required to provide the summary wishes to rely on the contents of that summary alone and notifies the appointed person of that fact; and
the person whose evidence the proof of evidence contains is then to be subject to cross-examination on it to the same extent as if it were evidence that person had given orally.
The appointed person may direct that facilities are to be afforded to any person taking part in an inquiry to take or obtain copies of documentary evidence open to public inspection.
The appointed person may:
require any person taking part in or attending an inquiry who, in the opinion of the appointed person, is behaving in a disruptive manner to leave; and
refuse to permit that person to return; or
permit that person to return only on such conditions as the appointed person may specify,
but any such person may submit to the appointed person any evidence or other matter in writing before the close of the inquiry.
The appointed person may allow any person to alter or add to a statement of case received by the National Assembly or by the appointed person under regulation 19 so far as may be necessary for the purposes of the inquiry, but the appointed person must (if necessary by adjourning the inquiry) give every other person entitled to take part and who is actually taking part in the inquiry an adequate opportunity of considering any fresh matter or document.
The appointed person may proceed with an inquiry in the absence of any person entitled to take part in it.
The appointed person may take into account any written representation or evidence or any other document received from any person before an inquiry opens or during the inquiry provided that the appointed person discloses it at the inquiry.
The appointed person may from time to time adjourn an inquiry and, if the date, time and place of the adjourned inquiry are announced at the inquiry before the adjournment, no further notice is to be required.
In respect of any inquiry that the National Assembly expects to last for 8 or more days, any person who takes part in the inquiry and makes closing submissions, must by the close of the inquiry provide the appointed person with a copy of those closing submissions in writing.