A, R (on the application of) v Chief Constables Of C & Anor, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, October 25, 2000, [2000] EWHC Admin 408

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A, R (on the application of) v Chief Constables Of C & Anor, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, October 25, 2000, [2000] EWHC Admin 408

Case no: CO/2840/2000

IN THE high court of justice

QUEENS BENCH DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

Royal Courts of justice

Strand, London, wc2a 2ll

Wednesday, 25 October, 2000

Before:

The honourable mr justice Turner

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The Queen

-v-

The Chief Constables of `C' & `D'

ex parte `A'

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(Transcript of the Handed Down Judgment of

Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street

London EC4A 2AG

Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838

Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)

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TIMOTHY STRAKER QC and PAUL GREATOREX (instructed by the County Solicitor) appeared for the 1st Respondent

NIGEL GIFFIN (instructed by the County Solicitor) appeared for the 2nd Respondent

GERARD CLARKE (instructed by the National Association of Head Teachers) appeared for the Applicant

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Judgment

As Approved by the Court

Crown Copyright ©

TURNER J:

Introduction

1. This application for judicial review is brought to quash `decisions' allegedly made by the two respondents. By those `decisions' the first respondent C had disclosed non-conviction information about the applicant to the second respondent D who in turn disclosed that, together with similar information obtained from the B Constabulary to the applicant's prospective employers. Following the application for permission, the two respondents gave undertakings to the court not to disclose any information about the applicant until the substantive hearing of the application. In addition to the application to quash the two `decisions' the applicant also seeks declarations that neither respondent is entitled to disclose any such information and that past disclosure amounts to a breach or breaches of the Data Protection Acts of 1984 or 1998.

2. The applicant contended that the decisions concerned were unlawful because either they were contrary to relevant Home Office guidance and/or the Data Protection Act 1984 or 1998 and/or Article 8 of the ECHR and/or the principles of natural justice and/or Wednesbury principles.

3. The applicant is a school teacher who happens also to be a homosexual. In broad outline, this case is concerned with the fact that in C as well as in B complaints had been made about the applicant's conduct towards pupils which led to police investigation, but which did not lead to criminal proceedings. During 1999, the applicant applied for employment by D Education Authority. A conditional offer of employment was made. The local constabulary D were requested to perform a child access vetting enquiry in respect of the applicant. As the result it obtained the information concerning the previous police investigations which it then passed over to the County Education Authority. It is the actions of the two respondents in passing over the information from the one to the other and then to the Education Authority of which the applicant complains in these proceedings. He claims that the consequence of their having done so was to cause the offer of employment to be withdrawn.

History

4. The history of the case is as follows. On 20 July 1999, the applicant attended an interview for the headship of an infants' school in D. He was offered the post with a starting date of 1 January 2000. The applicant was called back for interview on 8 December. He was then informed that the offer of employment was withdrawn due to the entry of an incorrect date on his application form. Apparently this related to an employment which the applicant had held some eight years previously. He was also informed that the Authority had received a negative police check the details of which it was unwilling to divulge. It remains a suspicion in the applicant's mind that it was not the inaccurate information which had led to the withdrawal of the offer but the results of the police check.

5. The application form which the a...

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