18.—(1) The National Assembly must hold a pre-inquiry meeting:
(a)if it expects an inquiry to last for 8 days or more, unless it considers such a meeting to be unnecessary;
(b)in respect of shorter inquiries, if it appears to it to be necessary.
(2) Where the National Assembly decides to hold a pre-inquiry meeting:
(a)the National Assembly must send with or include in the notice it gives in accordance with regulation 5(1):
(i)notice of its intention to hold a pre-inquiry meeting; and
(ii)a statement of the matters about which it particularly wishes to be informed for the purposes of its consideration of the appeal in question;
(b)the National Assembly must include in the notice it publishes in accordance with regulation 6(1)(a) or (b) or sends in accordance with regulation 6(1)(c), notice of its intention to hold a pre-inquiry meeting and a statement of the matters referred to in paragraph (2)(a)(ii); and
(c)the appellant and the respondent must each send two copies of their outline statement to the National Assembly within 8 weeks of the starting date.
(3) The National Assembly must, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of the outline statement of the respondent to the appellant and that of the appellant to the respondent.
(4) The National Assembly may, in writing, require any interested persons who have notified it of an intention or a wish to take part in the inquiry to send an outline statement to it, to the appellant and to the respondent, and those interested persons must ensure that such statement is received by the National Assembly, the appellant and the respondent within 4 weeks of the date of the National Assembly’s written requirement.
(5) The pre-inquiry meeting (or, where there is more than one, the first pre-inquiry meeting) must be held within 16 weeks of the starting date.
(6) The National Assembly must give not less than 3 weeks' written notice of the pre-inquiry meeting to the appellant, the respondent, any interested person known at the date of the notice to wish to take part in the inquiry and any other person whose presence at the pre-inquiry meeting appears to the National Assembly to be desirable, and it must, in relation to notification of the pre-inquiry meeting, take one or more of the steps specified, in relation to the inquiry, in regulation 22(6).
(7) The appointed person:
(a)is to preside at the pre-inquiry meeting;
(b)is to determine the matters to be discussed and the procedure to be followed;
(c)may require any person present at the pre-inquiry meeting who, in the opinion of the appointed person, is behaving in a disruptive manner to leave; and
(d)may refuse to permit that person to return or to attend any further pre-inquiry meeting, or may permit that person to return or attend only on such conditions as the appointed person may specify.
(8) Where a pre-inquiry meeting has been held pursuant to paragraph (1), the appointed person may hold a further pre-inquiry meeting and must arrange for such notice to be given of a further pre-inquiry meeting as appears to the appointed person to be necessary; and paragraph (7) is to apply to such a further pre-inquiry meeting.
(9) If the National Assembly requests any further information from the appellant or the respondent at the pre-inquiry meeting, the person from whom the further information has been requested must ensure that two copies of that information have been received by the National Assembly and a copy has been received by any interested person to whom the appointed person may require a copy to be supplied, within 4 weeks of the conclusion of the pre-inquiry meeting and the National Assembly must, as soon as practicable after receipt, send a copy of the further information received from the appellant to the respondent and a copy of the further information received from the respondent to the appellant.