The High Court has quashed adecision by the Information Tribunalthat early gateway reviews on the ID card scheme should be
published.
The decision on Friday morning means there will be a new hearing
of the information tribunal into whether the ID card gateway
reviews - independent assessment of the project - should be
published.
Judge Stanley Burnton accepted that his decision would lead to
further costs for the taxpayer - both sides are publicly funded -
but he hoped these would be minimised.
The judge gave qualified support for legal arguments put on
behalf of the Speaker of the House of Commons that the decision of
the information tribunal had come into conflict with the
1689
bill of rights. The 1689 act said that Parliamentary proceeding
ought not to be questioned by the court.
The judge found that the tribunal had relied in part on a
parliamentary select committee report which looked into IT
projects and whether Gateway Reviews should be published.
By relying so heavily on the committee's report, the tribunal
had effectively stopped the Office
of Government Commerce, which runs the gateway review scheme,
from questioning in court the committee's findings. The judge said
the tribunal had significantly relied on matters it should not have
done.
The case will now be heard by a different tribunal but if its
decision goes to appeal it could be six months before any ruling is
made on whether ID cards gateway reviews should be published. Even
then it may be open to the Office of Government Commerce to appeal,
which could delay a decision even further.
Read more on Tony Collins' IT Projects blog >>