The organization of a hearing entails ensuring the presence of a member, sometimes of an interpreter, of the appellant, of the appellant's lawyer and of the representative of the department. All of these individuals must be in one and the same place at the same time. The organization of all of that takes time, whereas, in the case of a written decision, one need only present the file to a member. He or she may deal with it in the course of a work day.
On March 3rd, 2011. See this statement in context.