Identity Theft & Fraud - Expert Witnesses

Family Justice Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Family Justice Council,

Following confirmation from the General Medical Council that it has received complaints from medical professionals of identity theft and fraud related to court-appointed medical expert witnesses:

1. Please provide sight of all records from 2018 onwards that include reference to fraud or other criminal conduct related to court-appointed expert witnesses, to include recorded entries of complaints, concerns and whistle blowing.

2. Please provide sight of all records for 2018 onwards relating to due diligence / governance procedures for court-appointed expert witnesses, to include communications from or to third parties including the General Medical Council (personal details may be redacted if individuals are not acting in their professional capacities).

3. Please provide sight of all proposals to amend judicial practice directions to deliver scrutiny and governance over expert witnesses, as well as any proposed authentication mechanisms to verify the identity of expert witnesses.

Yours faithfully,

David Gale

Adshead, Paula (Judicial Office),

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gale,

Please see attached response to your recent FOI request.

Kind regards,
Paula

Please note that I use voice recognition for all computer work.
Paula Adshead | Deputy Secretary to the Family Justice Council | Judicial Office | EB02 | Royal Courts of Justice | Strand | London | WC2A 2LL | DX 44450 Strand WC2 | Tel 0207 947 7950 | Email: [email address]
Web: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/related-off...
To see the FJC’s privacy policy on how we process personal data, please go to: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/related-off...

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Dear Family Justice Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Family Justice Council's (FCJ) handling of my FOI request 'Identity Theft & Fraud - Expert Witnesses'.

In reviewing this FOI request, please state what efforts were made and who was consulted in forming the FCJ's response.

For transparency, I am already in possession of evidence of FCJ engagement on the matter of expert witness fraud. For context, I am aware of the previous recommendations made by the Law Commission on due diligence related to expert witnesses that were largely ignored by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). For its part, the MoJ has already confirmed that there are no existing practice directions or ISO 9001 compliant procedures on due diligence related to the appointment of expert witnesses, and that agencies representing expert witnesses are entirely unregulated.

My objective in submitting this FOI request is to facilitate radical reform of the courts' due diligence provision for expert witnesses. As someone who has previously briefed senior members of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, I would be happy to engage directly with senior members of the judiciary, should this be advantageous.

This request has been made on the assumption that the FCJ has in place legally compliant (BS15489) records management that facilitates an indexed search.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Yours faithfully

David Gale
Consultant Chief Information Officer / Enterprise Architect
Abracus

Family Justice Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gale

 

Please find attached acknowledgement of your recent request for an FOI
internal review.

 

Daphna Wilson

Family Justice Council | Judicial Office | Royal Courts of Justice |Strand
|  London| WC2A 2LL 

 

To see the FJC’s privacy policy on how we process personal data, please go
to:
[1]https://www.judiciary.gov.uk.uk/related-...

Web: [2]www.judiciary.gov.uk

 

 

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Family Justice Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gale

 

Please see attached letter seeking clarification of your FOI request.

 

 

Regards

Daphna

Daphna Wilson

Family Justice Council | Judicial Office | Royal Courts of Justice |Strand
|  London| WC2A 2LL 

 

To see the FJC’s privacy policy on how we process personal data, please go
to:
[1]https://www.judiciary.gov.uk.uk/related-...

Web: [2]www.judiciary.gov.uk

 

 

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Dear Family Justice Council,

With reference to your request for confirmation of "2018 onwards": yes, that will be fine.

However, if allocated FOI response time remains available after furnishing that request, please use the remaining time to add significant cases prior to 2018.

Yours sincerely,

David Gale

Family Justice Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gale

Please find attached letter in response to your request for an internal review.

Regards
Daphna Wilson

Daphna Wilson
Family Justice Council | Judicial Office | Royal Courts of Justice |Strand | London| WC2A 2LL

To see the FJC’s privacy policy on how we process personal data, please go to: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk.uk/related-...
Web: www.judiciary.gov.uk

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Dear Family Justice Council,

I am in receipt of your letter dated 01.03.21 in which a completely different question has been answered to those which were the subject of the FOI request.

Given that we are already in possession of documents sent to the FJC that meet the criteria of the FOI request, unless we hear to the contrary, we will assume that the FJC has no legal compliance with BS15489 records management or is refusing to provide information that we know that it holds.

If you choose to revisit the FJC's response, as a starting point, can I suggest that you review documents that relate to the most recent notifications to the FJC about expert witness fraud that were made prior to, during and following the FJC meeting of 19.10.20? Again, for transparency, we are in possession of documentary evidence that confirms the knowledge of senior members of the judiciary related to expert witness fraud.

Whilst we fully appreciate the Court's significant difficulties in attracting medical professionals to become expert witnesses, failure to provide procedures and legally compliant records management capable of identifying serious criminal activity in the Family Courts can only be construed as gross negligence / gross misconduct. As such, the ICO will not be the appropriate body for any next steps.

Please feel free to amend your response within the next fourteen days.

Yours sincerely,

David Gale

Family Justice Council

Dear Mr Gale,

Thank you for your email of 5 March 2021.

I can confirm that the Family Justice Council only holds those emails sent by you to the Council and the Council’s responses. These have not been provided to you as that information is already accessible to you (Section 21 of the FOIA.)

The Council is unable to help further.

Kind regards,

Paula Adshead

Family Justice Council | Judicial Office | Royal Courts of Justice |Strand | London| WC2A 2LL

To see the FJC’s privacy policy on how we process personal data, please go to: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk.uk/related-...
Web: www.judiciary.gov.uk

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