The Senior President of Tribunals, Sullivan LJ, has launched a consultation paper on altering the composition of the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) in some Information Rights cases. With the support of GRC Chamber President, Judge Warren, it is proposed to remove the requirement that a judge sit with two non-legal members and allow the Chamber President flexibility to direct that certain cases be heard by a judge alone.
From the consultation document, it does not appear that the formal Composition Practice Statement will set out itself when non-legal members will be used, but the Chamber President’s anticipation is stated to be that a judge alone will be used in more procedural cases, such as whether the information is held, or time limit issues, or whether the cost of compliance limits are breached, or whether the information is readily accessible by other means. A single judge may also be used where the judge is already familiar with the evidence because of previous involvement with the case and all parties are content that a decision should be taken without a hearing. Other cases, and therefore questions of the balance of the public interest, will continue to be heard by a panel of three.
Consultation responses are to be sent by 3 October 2014.
The details of the questions, and the address for responses, can be found in the consultation paper here.
Christopher Knight