ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Leeds Combined Court 1 Oxford Row Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 3BG |
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B e f o r e :
(sitting as a judge of the High Court)
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THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF ALEMAYEHU |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT |
Defendant |
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Ms Anderson (instructed by Treasury Solicitor ) appeared on behalf of the Defendant.
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Crown Copyright ©
HH JUDGE KAYE QC:
" In judicial review cases there is no obligation to provide a disclosure statement but in these, as well as other types of proceedings in which disclosure may have to be given, the case-handler should prepare and retain a statement recording:
- all searches made
- all decisions (by lawyers and clients) about the extent of searches
- all decisions made about the disclosability of documents
- all decisions about all actions taken in relation to the preparation of documents for inspection.
In multi-department litigation each body should keep its own internal record in this form."
"It may be helpful in preparing the statement to adapt the format set out in CPR 31 which provides that a list of documents must include a Disclosure Statement setting out the extent of the search that has been made to locate documents..."
And so on.
"You state that the Secretary of State has said that more time is needed to carry out searches. That is not what was said. As you know, the comment about the ease with which inquiries could be made was a response to the [point] you were taking on this aspect. The position remains that the Secretary of State is satisfied that the court has such material as it needs to decide the matter and no further time is needed to carry out such searches. Accordingly this concern falls away."
"They proposition that some guidance was in existence before 20 July 2011 which directed the case workers to grant indefinite leave to remain and it is then further extrapolated one stage higher to the proposition that that means the Secretary of State must have filed to disclose that guidance. Candour would require it to be disclosed, therefore a search it follows must be made for that and such other documents."
As I say, I am by no means persuaded that that kind of exegesis leads necessarily to a justification for the disclosure, still less am I inclined to order the Secretary of State at this late stage to carry it out.