Redaction, Anonymity and Restriction Orders Protocol

Restriction Orders

Introduction

  1. This protocol sets out the approach that will be taken by the Orgreave Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) to:
    1. Redaction of information from documents before they are disclosed or published by the Inquiry
    2. Anonymity
    3. Restrictions Orders
  2. This protocol should be read in conjunction with the protocol on the disclosure of documents (the “Disclosure Protocol”), which sets out the Inquiry’s approach to the receipt and handling of information.
  3. Pursuant to section 18 of the Inquiries Act 2005 (“the Act”), the Chair is obliged to take reasonable steps to ensure that members of the public can view a record of evidence and documents provided to the Inquiry subject to any restrictions imposed under section 19 of the Act. The Inquiry regards it as important that its proceedings are conducted in as open and transparent a matter as is possible.
  4. The purpose of this Inquiry is to aid public understanding of the events at Orgreave Coking Plant on 18 June 1984 and the subsequent prosecutions of those arrested on the day. As per paragraph 4 of the Inquiry’sTerms of Reference; the Inquiry will oversee the disclosure of contemporaneous historical material with a view to establishing a picture of the events. The Inquiry will establish a publicly available digital archive of all disclosed material (subject to any necessary redactions or closures for legal, national security, or other public interest reasons). This is intended to cover any relevant material held by individuals or organisations, including policing, central and local government, unions, media outlets and any other relevant public or private bodies.
  5. Disclosure and publication will be subject to the provisions set out in this protocol.
  6. The procedures outlined below are not intended to cover every eventuality or every procedural issue that may arise. It follows that, in exceptional cases, where the interests of justice and fairness require it, the Inquiry may need to depart from this Protocol but will provide prior notice to any concerned party to provide them with an opportunity to make representations. Further, this Protocol may be amended from time to time, in which case an amended version will be published on the Inquiry website.
  7. This protocol is designed to ensure that Material Providers (‘MPs’) understand how the Inquiry will prepare documents for disclosure and publication during the course of the Inquiry.  

Redaction

  1. Redaction is the removal of information from a document by obscuring text in that document. The main purpose of redaction is to protect sensitive and personal data. Redactions will be embedded in the disclosed or published document in such a way to ensure that it is not technically possible to see beneath it.
  2. Documents provided to the Inquiry may contain large amounts of personal information, some of which will require careful handling. The purpose of redaction therefore is to protect that personal information, where it is appropriate to do so. Redaction may also be used to exclude information not relevant to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.
  3. All documents must be provided in electronic form where possible with the electronic version retaining all original features and data associated with the original document. Such documents should be in their unredacted form. Where documents for any reason cannot be produced in electronic form, the document produced should be the original or, if the original is not available, the best available copy, intact and in unredacted form.
  4. The provision of documents must not be delayed on the basis of MPs seeking redactions to material
  5. The Inquiry’s legal team will review the documents provided to identify those which are relevant. It is for the Inquiry’s legal team alone and ultimately the Chair in the event of a dispute to determine the relevance of any particular document. It is anticipated that any document which is identified as relevant will be published subject to the application of any redactions made by the Inquiry. It is anticipated that any document which is identified as relevant will be published subject to the application of any redactions made by the Inquiry.
  6. The Inquiry’s legal team will review all relevant documents before disclosure and/or publication to ensure it complies with its own obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. The Inquiry’s approach to redaction of personal data is governed by the relevance of that data to the Inquiry and the necessity of its disclosure.
  7. The Inquiry will normally redact the following categories of personal data;

a. Personal data

‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living Person (the ‘data subject’).

Examples of personal data include a person’s;

  • Private email addresses;
  • Address;
  • Date of Birth; and
  • Signature.

‘Personal data’ also includes photographs of the person and other biographical information.

b. Special category data

The GDPR refers to sensitive personal data as ‘special categories of personal data’ (Article 9). These categories are considered to be more sensitive and it is particularly important to consider the necessity of disclosure. ‘Special category data’ includes data about an individual’s;

  • Race;
  • Ethnic origin;
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Trade Union membership
  • Health
  • Sex life; or
  • Sexual Orientation.

Personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences (including allegations of offences) is similarly sensitive, and the Inquiry will only disclose it where there is a particular legal basis to do so.

  1. Such information will be redacted without the need for any Restriction Order or order for anonymity (save where the particular information is relevant to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference).
  2. The Inquiry will decide whether any other information needs to be redacted on a case-by-case basis.
  3. When the Inquiry has decided which documents it intends to disclose or publish, it will inform the MP so that they may indicate any further redactions which they seek on the grounds that its disclosure is not relevant and necessary for the purposes of the Inquiry. Reasons must be given by MPs for each proposed redaction. The Inquiry’s legal team cannot be responsible for identifying sensitivities which are specific to an MP and expects these to be brought to the Inquiry’s legal team’s attention by the MP at this stage (or earlier).
  4. The Inquiry will consider all requests for redaction. MPs will be notified before the document in question is disclosed or published as to whether their request has been agreed and the redaction applied or whether such request has been rejected (either in whole or in part).
  5. The Inquiry expects MPs to adopt a measured approach when seeking redactions and will redact documents only where there is a good reason to do so. It is anticipated that most redaction requests can be resolved through this ‘common sense’ process without the need for formal document-specific Restriction Order pursuant to section 19 of the Act. If however agreement cannot be reached the MP will be given a short opportunity to apply for a Restriction Order to prevent disclosure and/or publication of the information it seeks to redact (further details can be found below on this procedure).

Restriction Orders

  1. As set out in the introduction to this Protocol, the Inquiry’s starting point is section 18 of the Act and the need to ensure appropriate transparency and public scrutiny. The Chair may, however, sometimes make orders when it is necessary to keep information private. Such orders are known as Restriction Orders and are made in accordance with section 19 of the Act. These orders restrict disclosure or publication of information.
  2. A Restriction Order made by the Chair must only specify such restrictions as:
    • are required by law (section 19(3)(a) of the Act); or
    • the Chair considers it to be conducive to the Inquiry fulfilling its Terms of Reference (section 19(3)(b) of the Act); or
    • the Chair considers to be necessary in the public interest (section 19(3)(b) of the Act).
  3. Restriction Orders made by the Chair normally continue in force unless and until they are changed or cancelled. They will usually remain in force at least until the Inquiry has ended and often beyond that. You can ask the Chair to change or cancel an existing Restriction Order which affects you. The Chair can decide to change or cancel a Restriction Order without an application having been made if he considers it necessary to do so.
  4. Everyone must obey a Restriction Order. That includes the media, members of the public, witnesses, core participants, legal representatives and all members of the Inquiry team.

Anonymity

  1. Anonymity is the protection of a person’s identity from disclosure. It is not to be confused with special measures which are aimed at assisting vulnerable or intimidated witnesses and which may include the use of screens or the giving of evidence in private or via a live link. It is anticipated that special measures, rather than anonymity, will likely address most concerns arising from witnesses in the Inquiry.
  2. Where the Inquiry makes a request to any person from whom the Inquiry proposes to take evidence under Rule 9 of the Inquiry Rules 2006 (“the Rules”) and that person wishes to have their identity protected from disclosure (or in any other circumstances where an individual seeks anonymity), the Inquiry expects that person to apply for a Restriction Order.
  3. Any person who wishes to request anonymity in the circumstances set out in paragraph 25 should do so by written request when submitting their written statement (see paragraph 29 below for the procedure to follow).
  4. If a written statement contains criticism of another person or organisation, it may be appropriate to disclose the identity of a witness who has been granted anonymity to the person or organisation criticised and their legal representative (where instructed), in order that they are afforded a fair opportunity to respond to the criticism. However, anyone to whom information is disclosed in this way must keep it confidential and it will not be disclosed to any other person. The Inquiry will provide at least 14 days’ notice if it intends to disclose the identity of a witness who has been granted anonymity so as to allow that witness an opportunity to make an application requesting that the Inquiry considers not disclosing this information.
  5. Written statements will generally be disclosed where necessary in redacted form to remove the identity of a witness who has been granted anonymity and redacted to remove irrelevant information including irrelevant personal information. Written statements by witnesses who have been granted anonymity will (unless there is a compelling reason not to publish the statement) be published in redacted form to remove the witness’s identity and irrelevant information.

Procedure for applying for a Restriction Order

  1. Applications for a Restriction Order (including in respect of anonymity) should be made in writing to the Solicitor to the Inquiry. Any such application should include:
    1. An open section that identifies the restriction sought and provides as much detail about the application and the grounds on which it is made as is possible without defeating the purpose of the application;
    2. A closed section that provides all remaining information about the application and grounds on which it is made. (Information set out in the closed section will amount to ‘potentially restricted evidence’ within the meaning of Rule 12(1) of the Rules ); and
    3. Supporting evidence, which, if necessary, may also be provided in open and closed form.
  2. Upon receipt of an application, the Inquiry will follow the general process set out below:
    1. The Inquiry’s legal team will discuss with the applicant whether any more of the information contained in the closed section of the application and any evidence provided in closed form can be moved into the open version. If there is a dispute, the Chair will be asked to decide.
    2. The open sections of the application and any evidence in support will be served on such relevant stakeholders as the Chair decides to which the application relates (and potentially on representatives of the media, where appropriate) subject to confidentiality undertakings. The open sections of the application may also be published on the Inquiry’s website. The Chair may issue a ‘minded to’ decision when circulating the application.
    3. The closed sections of the application and any evidence in support may be served on such relevant stakeholders as the Chair decides (and potentially on representatives of the media) subject to confidentiality undertakings. The Inquiry legal team will consult with the applicant as to whether such disclosure should be permitted. The Chair will decide whether and on whom to serve this material in the light of all the circumstances, including any representations made by the applicant, the sensitivity of the material and the importance of the material to the issues in the application. Consideration will be given as part of this process to the possibility of serving redacted versions and/or gists of the closed sections of the application and supporting evidence.
    4. The Chair may invite such relevant stakeholders as he decides (and, where appropriate, representatives of the media) to file written submissions in response to the application (and ‘minded to’ decision if applicable). These submissions may be published on the Inquiry’s website.
  3. The Chair will determine the application on the papers and give a written ruling, which will be published on the Inquiry’s website. The ruling may contain a closed addendum, which will not be made public.
  4. Applications for Restriction Orders should be made when individuals are submitting their written statement to the Inquiry or within 7 days of the Inquiry confirming that it will not be making the redaction on relevance grounds).
  5. In the case of applications for anonymity which are made prior to the submission of written statements (or where there is no written statement), applications should be made within 7 days of any confirmation from the Inquiry that it intends to publish the identity of the individual(s).

Additional Restrictions and Variation

  1. The Chair is mindful in this Inquiry that additional restrictions on public access not set out in this Protocol may become necessary in order to ensure all witnesses are able to give their best evidence to the Inquiry. Such decisions will be taken at the appropriate time.
  2. The Chair may vary the procedure set out above as appropriate.
  3. Nothing in this Protocol affects the Inquiry’s ability to redact material of its own volition where it considers it necessary and appropriate having regard to this Protocol.

This protocol was last updated in March 2026.