Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which (a) legal authority and (b) procedural rules permit judges to withhold notes from employment tribunal hearings.

The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 do not apply to information gathered and personal data processed in proceedings before the courts and tribunals. Together these exemptions protect judicial independence and judicial proceedings, allowing the courts and tribunals to maintain judicial control over access to information in proceedings, ensuring that access to information is provided through existing access and discovery regimes.

With respect to the Employment Tribunal, access to audio recordings and transcription of recordings is governed by the Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings. This includes details of how and the circumstances in which a party may be able to access audio-recordings, request a transcript of proceedings, or obtain a Judge’s notes of a hearing.

The Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings, can be found at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PD-recording-and-transcription-final.pdf.