The Transparency and Open Justice Board is seeking views on its proposed ‘key objectives’ which will “represent the high-level outcomes that, once finalised, will guide the Board’s work; help to identify areas where changes can and should be made; and, finally, will be used to measure the success of the Board’s work”.

We have previously commented on the establishment and work of the Board here. The ‘Key Objectives’ have been drafted to reflect what the Board identifies as the ‘four fundamental components’ of the principles of open justice, which are expanded upon in the Explanatory Notes:

1. Open Courts. In the words of the Explanatory Notes, this means that “the public (including representatives of the media) can access court and tribunal hearings – this includes physical access to court and tribunal buildings administered by HMCTS and (where the facilities are available) remote access to hearings”.
2. Open Reporting. According to the Board, the public and media should be able to report freely on proceedings held in open hearings and any restrictions imposed by a court of tribunal that prevents or postpones reports of proceedings must (1) have a statutory basis and (2) “fulfil a legitimate aim, be necessary, proportionate, and convincingly established by clear and cogent evidence”.
3. Open Decisions. Decisions of Courts and Tribunals (and the reasoning for them) should be publicly available.
4. Open Documents. The Explanatory Notes state that “the core documents relating to proceedings, particularly the evidence and submissions communicated to the court or tribunal, should be available to the public so that they can make sense of proceedings and the decision of the Court or Tribunal”.

Responses to the proposed Key Objectives are invited by 28 February 2025. To read more, click here.