Procedure on receipt of notice of third stage meeting
36.—(1) Before the end of—
(a)14 working days beginning with the first working day after the date on which a notice has been given to the officer concerned under regulation 31 or 33, or
(b)where that period is extended by the panel chair for exceptional circumstances, such extended period,
the officer concerned must comply with paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) The officer concerned must give the appropriate authority—
(a)a written notice of whether or not the officer accepts that the officer’s performance or attendance has been unsatisfactory or that the officer has been grossly incompetent, as the case may be;
(b)where the officer accepts that the officer’s performance or attendance has been unsatisfactory or that the officer has been grossly incompetent, any written submission the officer wishes to make in mitigation;
(c)where the officer does not accept that the officer’s performance or attendance has been unsatisfactory or that the officer has been grossly incompetent, or where the officer disputes all or part of the matters referred to in the notice given under regulation 31 or 33, a written notice of—
(i)the matters the officer disputes and the officer’s account of the relevant events, and
(ii)any arguments on points of law the officer wishes to be considered by the panel.
(3) The officer concerned must provide the appropriate authority and the panel with a copy of any document the officer intends to rely on at the third stage meeting.
(4) Before the end of 3 working days beginning with the first working day after the date on which the officer concerned has complied with paragraph (2), the senior manager and the officer must each give to the other a list of proposed witnesses or give notice to the other that they do not have any proposed witnesses, and any list of proposed witnesses must include brief details of the evidence that each witness is able to adduce.
(5) Where there are proposed witnesses, the officer concerned must, if reasonably practicable, agree a list of proposed witnesses with the senior manager.
(6) Where no list of proposed witnesses is agreed under paragraph (5), the officer concerned must give the appropriate authority the officer’s list of proposed witnesses.