§ Lord O'HAGANasked Her Majesty's Government:
What legal training is considered necessary for Inspectors at highway 1166WA inquiries to enable them to discharge their duties as "custodians of national justice".
§ Baroness BIRKLegal training for inspectors at these inquiries is not considered necessary. The inquiries are fundamentally administrative inquiries into objections which have been made to draft highway schemes and orders and provide an occasion for the consideration by an independent person of the Secretary of State's proposals in the context of the objections. There is a separate procedure under the Highways Act 1959 for dealing with questions relating to the vires of schemes or orders, when made, or the legality of the procedures for making them.