Ms Joan Gordon:

On online hearings, I am surprised that it has been said that it is causing a chilling effect. I think there has been misinterpretation of what been asked. I am rather surprised because that has not been shared.

Online hearings have proved extremely flexible, obviously during Covid, and afterwards. It has led to improved processing times and the stats show that, which is good. There is always a balance to be struck between that efficiency and what people need. I can assure the committee that where a person tells us they are not comfortable with doing it online, they do not want to do it, they do not have the technology or they prefer an in-person hearing where an appeals officer has determined that an oral hearing is appropriate or required, that person will then be facilitated with an in-person hearing.

In addition, in practice, the reaction that we get from panels to the online hearings is that they are very welcome. It has been very flexible and avoids people having to travel. It also avoids, in some cases, appeals officers having to travel from locations if they are the most qualified person to deal with the issue in hand. We also bring appellants through a process and what we call a “dummy run” of the online process before the actual hearing to ensure everything works connectivity-wise and all the rest of it. I take the comments on board.