All the pieces matter: relevance, redactions and open justice

Public lawyers, in particular, may have encountered government departments or others redacting the names of ‘junior officials’ on grounds of ‘relevance’ or ‘data protection’, when disclosing documents in litigation. Anecdotally, at least, that has been an increasing trend in recent years. The judgment of Swift J in FMA and Others v SSHD [2023] EWHC 1579 (Admin) contains a very clear – and welcome – statement that this approach is not appropriate.

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