Written question asked by Baroness Deech (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 16 June 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 30 June 2026. It was answered by Baroness Levitt (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 June 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Tribunals: Conflict of Interests
- Question
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Levitt on 15 June (HL442), what evidence they have secured that tribunal judges recuse themselves appropriately; and what steps they intend to take to advise parties that they should conduct research into tribunal judges' conflicts of interest which might affect their appearance before them.
- Answer
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All tribunals judges swear an oath to act impartially. Because recusal in general and the conduct of judges in particular, are matters for the independent judiciary, the Government has not sought to assess recusal in the tribunals. The Government is unable to give legal advice to litigants.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office can investigate a potential conflict of interest if, for example, “an appeal court’s criticism of a judicial office holder for failure to declare a potential conflict of interest was so serious as to raise a question of judicial misconduct”. Further information can be found on its website at https://www.complaints.judicialconduct.gov.uk/.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL993
- Session
- 2026-27
- Related items
- Grouped for answer
- Yes
- Subjects
- Conflict of interests Judges Tribunals Research
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-07-22 13:02:37 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL993
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL993
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL993