Mrs May Dunsmuir is the President of the Health and Education Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (the Health and Education Chamber). Mrs Dunsmuir was appointed as President of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals (ASNTS) on 12 May 2014, and became the President of the Health and Education Chamber on 12 January 2018, at which time the ASNTS transferred into the Chamber. The President, together with 13 legal members and 26 ordinary members, serve within the Additional Support Needs jurisdiction of the Health and Education Chamber.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service administration team (the administration) is made up of an operations manager and case officers. The team provides administrative support to the President and tribunal members, to ensure that every case is provided with a high level of service and attention. The team are the point of contact for children, young people, parents, education authorities, responsible bodies and anyone with an interest in the Additional Support Needs jurisdiction.
The operations manager who is responsible for the management of all administrative matters relating to references and claims and for the case officers is Elaine Forbes. She is also responsible for the administration and management of the website.
The administration are responsible for the case management of every reference or claim. This will include communication with parties on a range of matters, e.g. the dates for case management calls and hearings. The administration will copy and collate the necessary papers for cases, arrange hearings and deal with correspondence and questions from parties involved in the reference or claim.
The administration cannot offer advice to a party on their case.
The President has an EA/Member Liaison Officer, Lynsey Brown, who is responsible for a range of matters, which include managing the President’s diary and liaison with tribunal membership. If you wish to contact the President, please contact Lynsey Brown in the first instance.
OUR STRUCTURE
The Additional Support Needs jurisdiction (the ASN Tribunal) is a judicial body. It is independent of any other agency, which includes education, health and Scottish Government. Each individual tribunal, when it sits, is also independent of the President’s Office.
Administrative support is provided through staff employed by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
A tribunal will be made up of one legal member and two ordinary (specialist) members. The specialist members may have backgrounds in additional support needs, education, health (e.g. speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, child psychiatry and social work). In certain types of cases a legal member can sit alone. Each tribunal is supported by a case officer who will deal with all enquiries in relation to the hearing and the progress of the case. The administration will try to assign the same case officer throughout the life of the reference or claim.
