Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber

[2023] UKUT 245 (AAC)

Fecha: 14-Mar-2023

Grounds of appeal

Grounds of appeal

21.

The grounds of appeal for which permission was granted were:

Ground 1:

22.

The Appellant was denied a fair hearing because the Homes for Haringey by the late disclosure of a relatively large quantity of documents on the day before the two-day hearing before the First-tier Tribunal, denying him and his counsel an adequate opportunity to consider and respond to that material, resulting in material unfairness.

Ground 2:

23.

The First-tier Tribunal erred in its approach to the application of section 41 FOIA by:

(i)

applying a blanket approach to the Report rather than considering the nature of each different class of information and the circumstances of the communication of each different class of information comprising the withheld information; and

(ii)

failing to consider the nature and extent of the guarantee of confidence given to those who participated in the audit, contrary to the approach set out in Coco v AN Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41 at §48-49; and

(iii)

failing to consider the extent to which the withheld information was already in the public domain.

Ground 3:

24.

The First-tier Tribunal took an unlawful approach to the withheld information, deciding that certain information in the withheld information which did not fall within any exemption should not be disclosed, contrary to section 1(1) FOIA.

Ground 4:

25.

The First-tier Tribunal erred in its approach to the issue of whether the public interest in exposing iniquity justified disclosure, failing to apply the proper test set out in AG v Guardian Newspapers [1990] 1 AC 109 at §283.

Ground 7:

26.

The First-tier Tribunal’s conclusion on the scope of the Appellant’s request was outside the range of reasonable conclusions open to it.