January 2009 Meeting to discuss the 2009 Civil Mediation Council Registration Scheme

On 20th January 2009 a well-attended meeting, members of London Branch met at Landmark Chambers, London, to discuss the proposed CMC registration scheme. Stephen Bickford Smith chaired the meeting. Paul Rose, the branch PRO, a chartered surveyor and an experienced mediator, introduced the subject by setting out the main features of the scheme, and drawing attention to the terms of the documents and the address by Sir Henry Brooke. Dr Mark Hoyle was also on the panel leading the discussion. Richard Roger, and Tony Marks, legal director represented Bloomsbury Square.

A lively debate ensued, to which experienced mediators contributed. The greatly predominant feeling of the meeting was that the proposed registration scheme was deficient:
• Many of the proposed provisions were unduly prescriptive, otiose or impracticable. Particular concern was felt about terms requiring the mediation to be facilitative, or affecting the privacy of the mediation process
• The requirement of 3 mediations in 12 months for registration was too onerous
• The proposal to allow the CMC to suspend registered mediators for up to 3 months was draconian.

Some concern was also felt about the insurance provisions, (particularly where a mediator was already required to carry insurance by other professional bodies), and more generally about the duplication of regulation by CMC and such other bodies.

A further point which was widely expressed was that the proposals in their current form were being attempted to be forced through to meet the deadline changes in ACAS and employment law mediation due to be introduced in April 2009 . There was a strong view that they were not as drafted appropriate for commercial mediation, and that further consultation was needed.

Hew Dundas, deputy chairman of the branch and former president of the Chartered Institute, suggested the scheme operated by the Scottish Mediation Network offered a preferable model for regulation of individual mediators.

Tony Marks promised to incorporate the views of the meeting in the Institute's response to the CMC's ongoing consultation.