This report from the Financial Remedies Court (FRC) Sub-Group of the Transparency Implementation Group covers a wide range of issues concerning Transparency within FRC work. The group was chaired by His Honour Judge Stuart Farquhar and included all levels of first instance judiciary, solicitors, barristers, a legal blogger and a press reporter.
In order to ensure that they had all of the relevant information to hand, the group have sought the input from those that practice in FRC work in other jurisdictions worldwide, as well as those in Civil (KBD & Chancery) and Court of Protection work in England and Wales. A wide ranging survey of judges, practitioners and others was conducted and full consideration provided to the many decisions that have been made in this field of work in recent months and years.
The result is a report that makes recommendations not only on the much debated issue of anonymity in FRC cases but also upon issues as diverse as the manner in which cases are listed, who should be able to attend hearings, which documents, if any, should be made available to reporters and the publication of judgments. The report also deals with out of Court settlements, the harvesting of statistical information from D81s (the forms provided with Consent Order applications), appeals as well as recommending how to clarify what may be reported by way of Reporting Orders being made in appropriate cases.
The report is detailed and runs to 164 pages but there is an executive summary at Chapter 2 as well as an “At a Glance” table setting out the main issues and recommendations at the end of Chapter 2.
