Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber

[2024] UKUT 127 (AAC)

Fecha: 11-Abr-2024

The Upper Tribunal oral hearing

The Upper Tribunal oral hearing

I held a remote oral hearing by CVP in this matter on 11 April 2024. Dr Kirkham, the Applicant, attended in person, representing himself, while the Information Commissioner was represented by Mr Leo Davidson of Counsel. The hearing lasted for just under 2 hours. Happily, there were no technical glitches in the course of the CVP hearing. However, regrettably there were several occasions on which I had to remind Dr Kirkham to focus his oral submissions on the issues which were directly relevant to the matters in hand. Just by way of example, Dr Kirkham insisted on telling me on several occasions about what he alleged were egregious data protection breaches by HMCTS in relation to the disclosure of documents released under the open justice principle in other proceedings sometime after the First-tier Tribunal’s decision now under challenge. He may (or may not) be right about such matters, but those concerns shed no light on the lawfulness or otherwise of the First-tier Tribunal’s decision of 18 April 2023.

These reminders should not have been necessary as Dr Kirkham is an experienced litigant in person. Furthermore, he has been reminded before of the importance of focussing on the proper role of both the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. As Upper Tribunal Judge Jacobs explained in Kirkham v Information Commissioner (Section 12 of FOIA) [2018] UKUT 126 (AAC) at paragraph 38:

38.

As my decision draws to a close, this is a convenient place to make a general point about some of Mr Kirkham’s ambitious submissions to the First-tier Tribunal and on this appeal. The role of the Upper Tribunal is to decide first whether the making of the First-tier Tribunal’s decision involved the making of an error on a point of law (section 12(1) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007). If, and only if, it so decides, it then has power to re-make the decision or to remit the case to the First-tier Tribunal for rehearing. It is part of the Upper Tribunal’s function that it may give guidance to decision-makers and the First-tier Tribunal. That power is, however, confined to the issues that arise in the case before it. It does not include general guidance that extends beyond the scope of those issues. To take a couple of examples raised by Mr Kirkham, it does not include power for me in the context of this case to give guidance to the Information Commissioner on how to deal with issues under the Equality Act 2010 or on the proper form in which a decision should be made and issued.