12Unreasonable delay in exercising power

12 Unreasonable delay in exercising power (1) Where— (a) under an enactment, a person has a power to do an act or thing in the exercise of a discretion or otherwise; (b) no enactment prescribes a period within which the person is required to do or refuse to do the act or thing; (c) under an enactment, an application may be made to a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made in the exercise of that power; and (d) a complaint has been made to the ombudsman concerning a failure to do the act or thing in the exercise of that power; the ombudsman may, after investigating the complaint, if he or she is of the opinion that there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing, give to the complainant a certificate certifying that, in the opinion of the ombudsman, there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing. (2) Where the ombudsman gives a certificate under subsection (1), the person required or permitted to exercise the power must, for the purpose of enabling an application to be made under the enactment referred to in subsection (1) (c) to the prescribed tribunal concerned, be taken to have made, on the day on which the certificate is given, a decision in the exercise of that power not to do the act or thing. (3) Where— (a) under an enactment, a person has a power to do an act or thing in the exercise of a discretion or otherwise; and

(b) no enactment prescribes a period within which the person is required to do or refuse to do the act or thing; and (c) under an enactment, an application may be made to a person other than a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made in the exercise of that power and an enactment also provides that an application may be made to a prescribed tribunal for the review of decisions made by the lastmentioned person upon an application first referred to in this paragraph; and (d) a complaint has been made to the ombudsman concerning a failure to do the act or thing in the exercise of that power; the ombudsman may, after investigating the complaint, if he or she is of the opinion that there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing, give to the complainant a certificate certifying that, in the opinion of the ombudsman, there has been unreasonable delay in deciding whether to do the act or thing. (4) Where the ombudsman gives a certificate under subsection (3), the person required or permitted to exercise the power must, for the purpose of enabling an application to be made to the person referred to in subsection (3) (c), be taken to have made, on the day on which the certificate is given, a decision in the exercise of that power not to do the act or thing. (5) Where a board, committee or other unincorporated body constituted by 2 or more persons is empowered by an enactment to make decisions, subsections (1), (2), (3) and (4) apply as if the board, committee or other body were a person empowered to make those decisions. prescribed tribunal means— (a) the ACAT; or (b) any other tribunal prescribed by regulation.