header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Redaction & the duty of candour

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
22 March 2024 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 8064 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law , Public
printer mail-detail
164873
Nicholas Dobson surveys recent case law on the redaction of civil servants’ names
  • Redaction is justifiable only where it is necessary for good and sufficient reason.
  • Redacting civil servants’ names is ‘inimical to open government and unsupported by authority’—Bean LJ.

On 25 February 1980 (long before the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and its provisions for public authority information disclosure), Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, in episode 1 of the BBC’s Yes Minister declared: ‘Open government is a contradiction in terms. You can have openness. Or you can have government. You can’t have both.’

This came to mind when, on 2 February 2024, the Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities v R (on the application of IAB & others) [2024] EWCA Civ 66 had to determine an important issue concerning redaction of civil servants’ names from evidence. This had been adduced by the defendant secretaries of state in a prospective challenge to the lawfulness

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Read All
Are you suited to a career in prosecution?
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
LSB marks Mazur homework
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
NLJ this week: Stuck in the past?
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
NLJ this week: No automatic bar on ‘user damages’
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
NLJ this week: Next gen wealth planning meets modern family reality
The next generation is inheriting more than assets—it is inheriting complexity. Writing in NLJ this week, experts from Penningtons Manches Cooper chart how global mobility, blended families and evolving values are reshaping private wealth advice
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll