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Procedural matters relating to tribunal hearings

Preliminary legal arguments

  1. One or both of the parties may raise matters that need to be decided as a preliminary legal argument before the tribunal hearing can proceed.

  2. Most preliminary legal arguments arise in medical practitioners tribunal (MPT) hearings, but they can arise in interim orders tribunal (IOT) hearings too, such as where a party wishes to apply for the tribunal hearing to be held in public, or where there is a disagreement about the admissibility of a document. 

  3. For all types of medical practitioners tribunal hearings, preliminary legal arguments should be raised with the MPTS Case Management team during the pre-hearing case management process. An MPTS case manager will then decide whether to schedule a separate preliminary hearing to decide the issue(s), or to allow them to be decided at the start of the substantive hearing.

  4. Where preliminary legal arguments are known to the parties in advance of the hearing, the MPTS case manager will have directed them to file a skeleton argument and relevant documents in advance. This allows the tribunal to prepare appropriately.

  5. A preliminary legal argument may arise during the hearing without prior notice, due to the lateness of the issue becoming known or due to a party asserting there has been a material change in circumstances since the issue was last raised and dealt with. Where it does, the tribunal should carefully consider the preliminary legal argument that has been raised and its impact, including whether the substantive hearing needs to be paused so that the preliminary legal argument can first be decided. 

  6. If the preliminary legal argument has already been considered by the tribunal, a preliminary hearing tribunal or an MPTS case manager, the tribunal will be bound by the earlier decision unless satisfied that:
    • there has been a material change in circumstances and the tribunal considers it is in the interests of justice to consider the matter, or
    • it is otherwise in the interests of justice for the tribunal to consider the matter.23

23 Rule 30.