Redaction meaning

In this issue: Public Law case law quarterly Brexit SIs Post-Brexit transition guidance Constitutional and administrative law Equality and human rights Information law Subsidy control and State aid Public procurement Management and strategic planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&A Useful information Public Law case law quarterly Public Law case law quarterly—Q1 2024 The Lexis+® Public Law team’s quarterly round-up presents key decisions and commentary from the last quarter. This issue features: a Court of Appeal ruling examining how redaction aligns with the duty of candour in judicial review; a Scottish judgment on when courts may refuse to give effect to a statutory provision; and a significant procurement case clarifying the threshold of ‘sufficiently serious’. See News Analysis: Public Law case law quarterly—Q1 2024... Brexit SIs Pressure Equipment (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 SI 2024/490: Made under...

In this issue: Public procurement Governance Social housing Education Children's social care Social care Planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Public procurement Cabinet Office publishes first suite of Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents The Cabinet Office has issued an initial tranche of guidance on the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). Designed to offer technical support, the materials explain interpretation and application of PA 2023, and are directed at procurement practitioners and commercial policy leads within contracting authorities. Each document should be read alongside PA 2023 and the related regulations. The Cabinet Office confirms a staggered release, aiming to complete the full set by June 2024. The Procurement Regulations 2024 have likewise been released in final form for Parliamentary debate. These draft regulations include the amendments flagged in the government’s consultation response issued on 22 March 2024. Separate guidance for devolved Welsh authorities will be issued by the Welsh Government in...

No more Blank Spaces—Routine redaction of the names of junior civil servants is incompatible with the Duty of Candour (R (IAB & Others) v SoS Home Department & Another) R (IAB and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [2024] EWCA Civ 66 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling means that when government departments disclose material in judicial review proceedings, the disclosing party can no longer, as a routine measure, remove the names of officials below SCS (Senior Civil Service) level—covering about 98% of the Civil Service. The court observed that it will usually be acceptable to redact contact information where that is useful; otherwise, any such deletions must be justified, and permission obtained by applying in accordance with the Administrative Court Guide (at §28, 34–36). The court ended by making it crystal clear that, should the government wish to carry on the practice of routinely masking junior civil servants’ names,...

This Practice Note explores circumstances in which parties can resist disclosure and/or inspection of sensitive material on the basis of public interest immunity (PII). It outlines the steps for advancing a PII claim and securing the court’s leave to withhold documents. Waiver of PII is also addressed here. This Practice Note should be read alongside Practice Note: Closed Material Procedure. What is public interest immunity (PII)? A party may oppose the disclosure and/or inspection of a document where producing it would prejudice the public interest. That objection is characterised as reliance on PII, the ‘immunity’ describing the capacity to decline disclosure or to refuse permission for inspection of the material. It was formerly referred to as ‘crown privilege’. PII operates in both civil and criminal law settings. The ‘proper approach’ to PII, which deploys a three-stage test, is discussed in the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide, para 19.2.2 and following. In 1968, in Conway v Rimmer, the House of Lords, rejecting the prior position, permitted a court to...

UK GDPR regime This material focuses on the UK GDPR framework, with legislative references pointing to Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), unless expressly indicated otherwise. It also takes into account the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA 2025). Note that pages within the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) UK GDPR guidance and resources are being revised to reflect DUAA 2025. When preparing for and managing employment tribunal proceedings, employers will need to process—ie gather, organise, use and disclose—information about claimants (whether prospective, current or former employees or workers) and other individuals, which will amount to personal data. The employer may additionally wish to process: special category data (previously known as sensitive personal data); and personal data regarding criminal convictions and offences, or related security measures (criminal offence data) For further information on what is meant by: personal data, see: Personal data—lawful processing conditions below...

This Practice Note is aimed at general commercial organisations in the UK. It offers guidance on handling data subject access requests (DSARs) that could require sharing material that identifies other individuals. It reflects the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and ICO guidance on the right of access. This Practice Note does not address processing for law enforcement purposes or the intelligence services. There is a separate Practice Note covering other third party rights, including trade secrets and intellectual property—see Practice Note: Responding to a data subject access request—protecting third party rights. The right of access The right of access is one of the data subject rights set out in the UK GDPR. DSARs are relatively frequent and are regarded as the gateway right, enabling individuals to use other rights such as rectification or erasure. They can be particularly burdensome for businesses. Under the right of access, data subjects are entitled to: confirmation of whether their personal data is processed access to the...

Precedent sample privilege log Click to access the Precedent sample privilege log. Please note this register was created in Excel, so it cannot be exported to Word. This Precedent sample privilege log is suitable when an organisation runs an internal investigation. It helps you catalogue documents covered by legal professional privilege, indicate whether they are redacted or fully withheld, and state the rationale. Use it to note whether access is limited by redaction or complete withholding, together with the underlying justification. It is equally applicable where an organisation faces an external investigation. Legal professional privilege (LPP) shields documents from disclosure to third parties, including government agencies, regulators and claimants in civil proceedings. There are two categories of LPP: legal advice privilege litigation privilege See Practice Note: Internal investigations and legal professional privilege—Types of legal professional privilege...

STOP PRESS: This document is currently being revised to take account of the implementation of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA 2025), which modifies the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. For further guidance on the compliance implications of DUAA 2025, please see Practice Note: Data (Use and Access) Act 2025—compliance implications. [ insert name of individual making request ] [ insert address of individual making request ] [ insert date of this response ] Dear [ insert name of individual making request ] I write in reply to your request dated [ insert date of request ], which reached us on [ insert date ]. You have requested [ confirm precisely what was requested, eg ‘electronic copies of any personal data we hold about you’ ]. We have undertaken a reasonable and proportionate search for the personal data [ and other information ] you sought. I confirm that we are processing personal data about...