Judicial Appointments Commission

The complainant requested information about different attributes of applicants who had applied for the Recordership contest in a specific geographic area and how far they had progressed in that process. He asked nine questions that would provide breakdowns including the numbers of applicants by ethnic group. The public authority applied section 22(1) in relation to a number of the questions and section 40(2) in relation to others. The information that was withheld under section 22(1) was published before the Commissioner commenced his investigation and was not considered in this case. The Commissioner has considered the application of section 40(2) to the outstanding information and has determined that the public authority was correct in its application in this case. He did however find procedural breaches of sections 10(1) and 17(1). He requires no remedial steps to be taken.