Case No. UKUT-00338-(IAC)

[2004] 1 WLR 1372 suffices to fix an appellant in such a case with anything approaching a duty of candour such as would exist in judicial review proceedings.72.That said, the FtT clearly has power to require a party or another person to provide documents, information, evidence or submissions to the Tribunal or a party: rule 4(1)(d) refers. The FtT also has a power to order any person to answer any question or produce any documents in that person’s possession or control which relates to an issue in the proceedings: rule 15(1)(b) refers.73.As presently advised, we so no reason why directions of the kind contemplated above might not permissibly be made by the FtT. It might, in other words, direct that an applicant is to provide details of any social media accounts he uses, and that his solicitor is to conduct a reasonable and proportionate search of those accounts in order to ascertain whether they contain any material which relate to the sole issue in the proceedings: the appellant’s age. Prima facie, the making of such a direction would be necessary and proportionate, given the need for the First-tier Tribunal to decide the question posed by statute with sight of all evidence relevant to that task. 74.Subject to the considerations we have outlined above, that Tribunal might also order the specific disclosure of material from a social media account. Whilst the FtT cannot have the reassurance provided by the duty of candour, it may legitimately and in accordance with the guidance we have set out above give directions to the parties which will ensure that it is equipped to assign a date of birth to the applicant, as required by statute. 75.We offer those observations in light of the forthcoming transfer of these cases to the First-tier Tribunal. The reasons that we approved the order proposed by the parties in this case appear in the preceding sections of this judgment. The application for judicial review is now proceeding on the basis of that order. ~~~~0~~~~1