R (on the application of Equitable Members Action Group) v HM Treasury and others [2009] EWHC 2495 (Admin), [2009] All ER (D) 163 (Oct)
Queen’s Bench Division, Divisional Court, Carnwath LJ and Gross J, 15 October 2009
The Divisional Court has given further consideration to the circumstances under which the responsible minister is entitled to reject recommendations by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the ombudsman).
Dinah Rose QC, Javan Herberg, Stephen Grosz and Jessica Boyd (instructed by Bindmans LLP) for the claimant. Clive Lewis QC, Paul Nicholls and Deok Joo Rhee (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the defendant. Tony Child (instructed by Beachcroft LLP) for the interested parties. Jason Coppel (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the intervener.
The claimant was a company limited by guarantee whose members comprised about 21,000 current and former policyholders with the Equitable Life Assurance Society (Equitable). The claim concerned the government’s response, announced in Parliament in January 2009, to a report by the ombudsman entitled Equitable Life: A Decade of Regulatory Failure of July 2008 (the report).
The defendant, HM Treasury, co-ordinated the production
