Admission to a hearing
8.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, a hearing shall be held in public.
(2) The adjudicator may direct that the whole or any part of a hearing be held in private if he is satisfied that it is just and reasonable for him so to do by reason of —
(a)the likelihood of disclosure of intimate personal or financial circumstances;
(b)the likelihood of disclosure of commercially sensitive information or information obtained in confidence; or
(c)exceptional circumstances not falling within paragraph (a) or (b).
(3) The following persons shall be entitled to attend the hearing of an appeal which is held in private—
(a)any other adjudicator; and
(b)(for the purpose of discharging his functions as a member of that Council) a member of the Council on Tribunals.
(4) The adjudicator, with the consent of the parties, may permit any other person to attend the hearing of an appeal which is held in private or, where part of it is so held, that part.
(5) Without prejudice to any other powers he may have, an adjudicator may exclude from the hearing of an appeal, or part of it, any person whose conduct has disrupted or is likely, in the opinion of the adjudicator, to disrupt the hearing.