The Secretary of State announced a public enquiry into the Shipman case. He did not say whether it would be a public enquiry. The bereaved families and media wanted it to be public, and contended that it had been invalidly constituted, that an expectation had been created that it would be public, and that to hold it in private would infringe their article 10 rights.
Held: The tribunal was valid under the Act; the circumstances justified it, and the chairman was not subject to restrictions. It was appropriate to be held in public, but did not infringe the applicants’ human rights.
Judges:
Kennedy LJ
Citations:
Times 31-Aug-2000, Gazette 28-Sep-2000, [2001] 1 WLR 292
Statutes:
National Health Service Act 1977 2, European Convention on Human Rights 2 10
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (Howard and Another) v Secretary of State for Health QBD 15-Mar-2002
The applicants sought orders that enquiries into the activities of doctors under the Act should be held in public.
Held: The Act contained no presumption that enquiries should be in public, and the Wagstaff case created no general principle to . .
Cited – Regina (Persey and Others) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Admn 15-Mar-2002
The applicants sought an order that the government enquiries into the foot and mouth outbreak should be held in public. They argued that the need to re-establish public faith made a decision not to hold the enquiries in public irrational, and that a . .
Cited – Khan, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health CA 10-Oct-2003
The claimant’s child had died as a result of negligence in hospital. The parents had been told the result of police investigation and decision not to prosecute, and the hospital’s own investigation, but had not been sufficiently involved. There . .
Cited – Kennedy v The Charity Commission SC 26-Mar-2014
The claimant journalist sought disclosure of papers acquired by the respondent in its conduct of enquiries into the charitable Mariam appeal. The Commission referred to an absolute exemption under section 32(2) of the 2000 Act, saying that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Administrative, Media, Human Rights, Constitutional, Health
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.85487