Caribbean judges

The request was partially successful.

Dear Ministry of Justice,

The President of the Supreme Court today told a select committee that he's been working with you to find a way for Caribbean judges to sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (reported here: https://twitter.com/legalhackette/status...)

Please disclose an electronic copy of all recorded information you hold related to these discussions/ this piece of work.

In considering whether or not any exemptions apply, you will of course bear in mind the fact that the existence of the project is now public knowledge.

Yours faithfully,
G Kanter-Webber

Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice

This is an automated confirmation that your email has been received by the
Disclosure Team (Ministry of Justice) mailbox.

 

Freedom of Information (FOI)

 

If your email is a FOI request you can expect a response within 20 working
days.

 

However, please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we may not be able to provide a response within this timescale; if this is
the case, we will contact you to provide an update.

 

Every effort is being made to respond to FOIs as usual but the current
situation means that available Departmental resources will be needed on
other high priority areas.

 

We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your FOI request as soon as is practically
possible.

 

Subject Access Requests (under the General Data Protection Regulation
((EU) 2016/679)) (the Regulation) and/or Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA))

 

If your email is a SAR, you can expect a response within 1 calendar month.

 

However, please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we may not be able to provide within this timescale; if this is the case,
we will contact you to provide an update.

 

Every effort is being made to respond to SARs as usual but the current
situation means that available Departmental resources will be needed on
other high priority areas.

 

We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your SAR as soon as is practically possible.

 

 

show quoted sections

Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice

3 Attachments

Dear G Kanter-Webber,

 

Please see the attached response to your recent FOI request.

 

Kind Regards,

Disclosure and MoJ Library Team

Information Services Division, Communications and Information Directorate

Follow us on Twitter [1]@MoJGovUK
[2]Decorative image

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Disclosure Team,

Please can you conduct an internal review. On 17 March 2021, the President of the Supreme Court told Parliament (https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevi... - Q9), and I quote: "I want to be able to invite judges now from perhaps the Caribbean to sit on the Privy Council. It is impossible at the moment, but I have raised it with the Ministry of Justice and we are exploring the possibility."

Unless he misled Parliament, which seems unlikely, then the Ministry of Justice definitely does hold information within the scope of my request, so please can you try harder to find it.

Yours sincerely,

G Kanter-Webber

Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice

This is an automated confirmation that your email has been received by the
Disclosure Team (Ministry of Justice) mailbox.

 

Freedom of Information (FOI)

 

If your email is a FOI request you can expect a response within 20 working
days.

 

However, please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we may not be able to provide a response within this timescale; if this is
the case, we will contact you to provide an update.

 

Every effort is being made to respond to FOIs as usual but the current
situation means that available Departmental resources will be needed on
other high priority areas.

 

We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your FOI request as soon as is practically
possible.

 

Subject Access Requests (under the General Data Protection Regulation
((EU) 2016/679)) (the Regulation) and/or Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA))

 

If your email is a SAR, you can expect a response within 1 calendar month.

 

However, please be advised that due to the current situation with COVID-19
we may not be able to provide within this timescale; if this is the case,
we will contact you to provide an update.

 

Every effort is being made to respond to SARs as usual but the current
situation means that available Departmental resources will be needed on
other high priority areas.

 

We kindly ask for your understanding during this unprecedented situation
and we will aim to deal with your SAR as soon as is practically possible.

 

 

show quoted sections

Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice

3 Attachments

Dear G Kanter-Webber,

 

Please find attached a response to your request for an Internal Review.
Thanks

 

Kind regards

 

Communications and Information Services

 

[1]Ministry of Justice

 

 

 

show quoted sections

G Kanter-Webber

Dear Disclosure Team,

Thank you for your internal review. It is rather bizarre, so I have contacted the ICO to lodge a complaint. A copy of my letter to them is appended.

Yours sincerely,

G Kanter-Webber

----

Dear ICO

In response to this FOIA request https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c..., the Ministry of Justice denied that it holds the requested information. It upheld this denial on internal review.

However, this seems extremely unlikely to be correct, and the wording of their internal review suggests that they have misunderstood the request.

On 17 March, the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, told a select committee of Parliament: “Once upon a time, judges from countries such as India and Sri Lanka, when we were their final court of appeal, sat on the Privy Council. I want to be able to invite judges now from perhaps the Caribbean to sit on the Privy Council. It is impossible at the moment, but I have raised it with the Ministry of Justice and we are exploring the possibility. It would need primary legislation, but if it were to happen it would certainly add to the diversity of the appearance of our court.” See Q9 here: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevi...

You will note that Lord Reed specifically says that he “raised [the matter] with the Ministry of Justice” and that “we [ie him and the Ministry] are exploring the possibility”.

Unless Lord Reed was either wrong or lying, it follows that the Ministry of Justice does hold the information I requested. The internal review contains a number of template lines that do not seem especially relevant:
• their statement that they “are not the appropriate authority to contact on this subject” is plainly wrong given that Lord Reed explicitly named them as the body with whom he was working,
• their statement that “FOIA does not oblige a public authority to create information” is correct but has no bearing on the matter,
• their statement that “information held by or on behalf of the judiciary is not eligible for release” under FOIA misses the point that the requested information related to discussions between the judiciary and the Ministry which by definition is held by the Ministry for its own purposes,
• their statement that “the Supreme Court of England and Wales is not a public body” is rather strange given that there is no such thing as ‘the Supreme Court of England and Wales’ (for what it is worth, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which is presumably what they meant, is a public authority for FOIA purposes, see eg your past decision notice under reference FS50313758), and
• their statement that “discussions between judges on matters handled by the judiciary itself” are exempt from FOIA misses the point that the requested information constitutes discussion between a judge and the Ministry, not between the judge and another judge.

Overall, the Ministry’s handling of this request has been extremely odd and not especially competent. The simple fact remains that one of the most senior judges in the country has literally said that he has been working with the Ministry of Justice on a particular project, so if the Ministry is going to deny that that is the case, they will need to do so slightly more convincingly, and with clearer explanations, than they have done to date.

Best wishes
Gabriel

Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Kanter-Webber,

 

RE: ICO ref: IC-105999-S4M7 & MoJ ref: 211215011

 

Please find Ministry of Justice (MoJ) response attached, in relation to
your complaint (made via the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)).

 

Yours sincerely

 

Disclosure & Library Team (sent on behalf of Judicial and Legal Services
Policy Directorate)

Ministry of Justice

 

 

show quoted sections