[2025] UKUT 74 (AAC)

The appellant applied to the First-tier Tribunal under section 166(2) of the DPA 2018 for an order requiring the Commissioner to take appropriate steps to respond to his complaints. He put forward three grounds for his application, the first two of which were that the Commissioner had failed to take appropriate steps to respond to each of his two complaints by “failing to investigate the subject matter of my complaint, to the extent appropriate”, while the third ground was that “The outcome which the Commissioner has sent me in response to my complaints is incompatible with the outcome of the Commissioner’s investigation into the subject matter of my complaints”.

The Commissioner applied to have the application struck out on the grounds that it stood no reasonable prospect of success, but this application was dismissed by Judge Buckley in an order made on the papers dated 16 November 2023.

The appellant made an application for disclosure and provision of witness evidence by the Commissioner. This was refused by a Registrar and the appellant appealed to a judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Judge Neville) who rejected the application by order dated 16 February 2024. In rejecting the application, Judge Neville held that the duty of candour applied in section 166 applications and that was part of the reason why Judge Neville refused the application for disclosure.