Judges may be forced to reveal reasoning for their decisions

♦ Judges could be compelled to disclose the reasons for their decisions after the Information Commissioner ruled that the chairman of an employment tribunal must divulge his handwritten notes.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, the ruling that information from the courtroom must be released could set a far-reaching legal precedent.

The notes of Judge Ian Pritchard-witts have now been handed over to Alfred Percival, who fought a four-year battle for the information using the Data Protection Act (DPA).

The judge headed a panel which ruled against Mr Percival in his constructive dismissal case against Marshall Motor Group, one of the UK’S largest car dealerships.

The DPA states that any individual can ask to see information held about them, but the Ministry of Justice relied on one of a number of exemptions to refuse Mr Percival’s request to view the handwritten notes on file.

That decision has now been overturned by the Information Commissioner’s Office, which clarified that “handwritten notes in the court files will be data for the purposes of the DPA”.