RP -v- Secretary of State for the Home Department (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtCivilHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case number: CO/00290/2023

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court

25 January 2023

Before:

The Honourable Mr Justice Ritchie

Between:

RP

-v-

Secretary of State for the Home Department


Order

BEFORE the Honourable Mr Justice Ritchie, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Strand London on 25 January 2023.
WITHIN the claim for judicial review dated 24.1.2023 and for interim relief and final relief by way of mandatory injunction.
ON AN APPLICATION dated 23.1.2023 for urgent consideration.
FOLLOWING CONSIDERATION of the documents lodged by the Claimant in the application bundle. The Defendant not yet having served or filed an acknowledgement of service.
AND UPON this Court considering that there are reasonable grounds for urgent consideration.
UPON CONSIDERING an application for anonymity by the Claimant.
AND UPON the Court noting that the some of the Claimants are children so are protected parties.
AND UPON consideration of the Claimants’ Article 8 rights to respect for private and family life and the Article 10 rights to freedom of expression;
AND UPON IT APPEARING that non-disclosure of the identity of the Claimants is necessary in order to protect the interests of the Claimants.
AND PURSUANT to rule 39.2(4) of the Civil Procedure Rules and section II of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and rules 5.4C and 5.4D of the Civil Procedure Rules.

Now it is ordered that:

Anonymity

  1. The identity of the Claimant, her husband and their children shall be protected. The Claimants shall be referred to as “RP” in the claim. The matter shall be known as R (RP) v Secretary of State for the Home Department. There shall be no publication of the name of the Claimant of any of the family nor of any information that may lead to the identification of the Claimant of any of the family.

    Defendant’s Response
  2. Within 7 days of the service of this order on the Defendant, the Defendant shall file and serve (1) an Acknowledgement of Service and (2) any evidence and (3) written submissions in response to the Claimant’s application for interim relief and (4) any Summary Grounds of defence relied upon and (5) any authorities relied
    upon.

    Claimants’ further evidence
  3. Within 7 days of the date for the service and filing of the documents in 2 above the Claimants shall serve and file any evidence in response.

    Interim relief application
  4. The application for interim relief is put back for consideration until after the above steps. The papers shall be placed before a High Court judge for determination of the application for interim relief as soon as possible after 8th February 2023.

    Expert evidence
  5. The Claimants are granted permission to rely on the expert reports of Gillian Hughes, Dr Julia Nelki, and Ellie Kavner, dated 11 January 2023.

    Variation
  6. Liberty to apply to vary the terms of this order.

    Costs
  7. Costs reserved.

Reasons

  1. The first Claimant and her family are asylum seekers and have been accommodated in a hotel near Stanstead Airport for 18 months. The children are in a separate room. They consider that the food is not nourishing and any hotel (in particular the hotel) is unsuitable for children and that the Defendant has breached her duty to accommodate the Claimants under S.95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and the Asylum Seeker (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2005 and S.55 of the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
  2. The Claimant relies upon the Defendant’s own Guidance: Allocation of asylum accommodation policy December 2022 and S.6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the report of the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration dated May 2022 in support of the assertion that hotel accommodation is not adequate or suitable for
    children.
  3. The Defendant’s response to the Claimant’s PAP letter seems to relate to another case and does not engage with the issues.