Paedophile loses bank rule challenge – BBC News

Posted September 18th, 2013 in appeals, banking, child abuse, disclosure, news, police, privacy, proportionality, sexual offences by sally

“A convicted paedophile has lost a legal challenge against rules requiring him to disclose bank details to police.”

Full story

BBC News, 18th September 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

What is a “public authority” for the purposes of environmental information? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted September 18th, 2013 in disclosure, EC law, freedom of information, human rights, news, utilities by sally

“In this most recent case concerning access by private individuals to environmental information held by public authorities, the AG grasps the nettlish question of what precisely a public authority is. The issue was a subject of debate because the request for information had been addressed to private companies which manage a public service relating to the environment. The question therefore was whether, even though the companies concerned are private, they may be regarded as ‘public authorities’ for the purposes of the Directive governing access to environmental information (Directive 2003/4).”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 17th September 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Council wins appeal over job titles of attendees at law firm meeting – Local Government Lawyer

Posted September 16th, 2013 in appeals, contracting out, data protection, disclosure, local government, news, privacy by tracey

“A council has won an appeal over whether it was required – following an FOI request – to disclose the job titles of junior officers attending a meeting at a law firm to discuss a major outsourcing project.”

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 13th September 2013

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

NHS ‘covered up’ £4m of gag orders – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 16th, 2013 in budgets, disclosure, freedom of information, hospitals, news, statistics, whistleblowers by tracey

“The head of the NHS has been accused of a ‘systemic cover-up’ after official figures disclosed that hospitals have spent more than £4 million on secret gagging orders.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 15th September 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Torre Asset Funding Ltd and another v Royal Bank of Scotland plc – WLR Daily

Posted September 10th, 2013 in agency, banking, contracts, disclosure, law reports, news by tracey

Torre Asset Funding Ltd and another v Royal Bank of Scotland plc: [2013] EWHC 2670 (Ch);   [2013] WLR (D)  343

“A term was not to be implied into a mezzanine lending agreement that a bank, which had acted as agent for two special purpose vehicles (‘SPVs’) when they participated as junior lenders in such structured lending to a property company which subsequently collapsed, was obliged to disclose to the SPVs material financial information in its possession as to the declining health of the company.”

WLR Daily, 3rd September 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Information Commissioners against publication of names on convicted data blaggers’ list – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 10th, 2013 in crime, data protection, disclosure, news, private investigators, select committees by tracey

“The UK’s data protection watchdog has urged the Home Affairs Select Committee
not to follow through on its promise to publish the names of companies and
individuals that allegedly hired private investigators convicted of data
‘blagging’ offences.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 9th September 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Detective should face gross misconduct charge over killer’s questioning – IPCC – The Guardian

“A senior detective who ignored the rules governing the questioning of a suspect as he tried to solve a high-profile abduction case should answer a charge of gross misconduct, the police watchdog has ruled.”

Full story

The Guardian, 9th September 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Sparring With a Heavyweight – Criminal Law and Justice Weekly

Posted September 9th, 2013 in barristers, criminal procedure, disclosure, expert witnesses, news by tracey

“Dominic Thomas questions an illustrious barrister’s approach to a case.”

Full story

Criminal Law and Justice Weekly, 7th September 2013

Source: www.criminallawandjustice.co.uk

‘Hidden’ personal data disclosures in FOI responses results in £70,000 London council fine – OUT-LAW.com

“A local authority in London has been fined £70,000 after mistakenly disclosing sensitive personal information about more than 2,000 people in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 26th August 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Lord Blair: we need laws to stop ‘principled’ leaking of state secrets – The Guardian

“Tougher laws are needed to prevent members of the public from revealing official secrets, former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Blair has said.”

Full story

The Guardian, 26th August 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Children: Private Law update (August 2013) – Family Law Week

“Alex Verdan QC of 4 Paper Buildings considers several recent judgments in Children private law proceedings which provide practitioners with helpful guidance.”

Full story

Family Law Week, 15th August 2013

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

FOI reforms: dataset information could be disclosed in re-usable format even though copyright restrictions may still apply – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 13th, 2013 in copyright, disclosure, fees, freedom of information, news, regulations by sally

“Public authorities could be required to make copyrighted information contained in datasets available in a re-usable format under changes to freedom of information (FOI) laws even if they are not in a position to sanction re-use.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 12th August 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Employee data sought in connection with potential tribunal cases must generally be handed over, says ICO – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 9th, 2013 in codes of practice, data protection, disclosure, employment tribunals, news by sally

“Businesses cannot refuse to hand over records containing employees’ personal information just because they suspect the information could be used against them in an employment tribunal, the UK’s data protection watchdog has said.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 9th August 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others – WLR Daily

Posted August 1st, 2013 in disclosure, interception, law reports, media, police, telecommunications, witnesses by sally

Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others [2013] EWHC 2119 (Ch); [2013] WLR (D) 314

“The well established requirement for disclosure under Norwich Pharmacal principles for a party from whom disclosure was sought to be “involved” in or to have “facilitated” wrongdoing was too narrow and the court should ask itself whether the party was a mere witness or whether its engagement with the wrongdoing was sufficient to make it more than a mere witness and susceptible to the court’s jurisdiction to order disclosure.”

WLR Daily, 12th July 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina (Evans) v Her Majesty’s Attorney General – WLR Daily

Regina (Evans) v Her Majesty’s Attorney General [2013] EWHC 1960 (Admin); [2013] WLR (D) 313

“Section 53(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 required the existence of reasonable grounds before a certificate could be given by an accountable person and if reasonable grounds did not exist the certificate was invalid and of no effect. Further, a certificate under section 53(2) could validly be issued with regard to environmental information.”

WLR Daily, 9th July 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

JK Rowling law firm pays damages over pseudonym leak – BBC News

Posted August 1st, 2013 in anonymity, charities, costs, damages, disclosure, law firms, news by sally

“Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has accepted a substantial charity donation from the law firm that revealed she was writing under a pseudonym.”

Full story

BBC News, 31st July 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

“Jackson” and committal for contempt in matrimonial cases by David Partington – Sovereign Chambers

“It might be that the sanction of committal for contempt for ignoring orders of the court in respect of providing proper financial information in divorce proceedings may be more likely than before – partly in view of the new climate intended to be fostered by the ‘Jackson’ reforms.”

Full story

Sovereign Chambers, 22nd July 2013

Source: www.sovereignchambers.co.uk

Regina (S and others) v Chief Constable of the British Transport Police – WLR Daily

Regina (S and others) v Chief Constable of the British Transport Police [2013] EWHC 2189 (Admin); [2013] WLR (D) 312

“The Divisional Court gave guidance on the practice to be followed on an application for a search warrant under the special procedure in section 9 of and Schedule 1 to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, and reiterated the information required to be supplied by a constable to the court on such an application, including the need to give full and frank disclosure.”

WLR Daily, 23rd July 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Christopher Forsyth: Principle or Pragmatism: Closed Material Procedure in the Supreme Court

“In Al Rawi & Ors v The Security Service & Ors [2011] UKSC 34; [2012] 1 AC 531 the claimants (respondents in the Supreme Court) were bringing civil claims for damages against the defendants (appellants in the Supreme Court) alleging complicity by the defendants in their mistreatment by foreign powers (including detention at Guantanamo Bay). The defendants as part of their defence wished to place before the court ‘security sensitive material’ – presumably the evidence of intelligence agents, or similar, denying the complicity – which for security reasons could not be disclosed to the claimants. Thus the defendants submitted that the court hold a “closed material procedure”. They envisaged that the evidence would be placed before the courts in closed session, i.e. a session from which the claimants and their representatives (and the public) were excluded. In the closed session the claimants would be represented by “special advocates” appointed by the court who would have access to the evidence but would not be able to take instructions from the claimants. Such procedures are controversial since they threaten the fundamental principles of open justice and natural justice. On the other hand, the national interest would doubtless be impaired, in some cases, if intelligence agents gave evidence and their methods and secrets were exposed in open court.”

Full story

UK Constitutional Law Group, 29th July 2013

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

Rape victims let down by CPS, says watchdog – Daily Telegraph

Posted July 31st, 2013 in disclosure, human rights, medical records, news, prosecutions, rape, victims by sally

“Rape victims’ human rights are being infringed by the Crown Prosecution Service handing defence lawyers too much information about their injuries and treatment, a watchdog has said.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 31st July 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk