R (on the application of Toraane and another) (Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondents)
Case ID: 2021/0195
Case summary
Issue
The sole issue in this appeal is: what is the territorial scope of the public sector equality duty in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 (the "EA 2010"), which requires public authorities to have due regard to equality issues?
Facts
The Secretary of State's Vulnerable Person's Resettlement Scheme resettles in the UK those vulnerable refugees who have fled the conflict in Syria and who are referred to the scheme by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the "UNHCR"). The appellants are Palestinian refugees from Syria who, by virtue of being Palestinian, are excluded from the mandate of the UNHCR and so effectively excluded from being resettled under the Scheme.
The appellants challenged the Scheme on the ground that it unlawfully discriminated indirectly against them as Palestinians, contrary to section 29(6) of the EA 2010, and that the Home Secretary had failed to have due regard to its equality implications when setting up the Scheme, contrary to section 149(1) of the EA 2010.
The Court of Appeal held, inter alia, that section 149(1) did not have extraterritorial effect. The Appellants now appeal to the Supreme Court.
Judgment appealed
Parties
Appellant(s)
Saleh Mohammed Toraane and another
Respondent(s)
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Appeal
Justices
Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Burrows, Lady Rose, Lord Richards
Hearing start date
9 March 2023
Hearing finish date
9 March 2023
| Watch hearing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 March 2023 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
Future Judgment Update
Please note that appeal in the matter of R (on the application of Toraane and another) (Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) has been heard by the Supreme Court and is currently awaiting judgment.
As soon as the judgment hand-down date is confirmed, it will be published on the Future judgments page of this website. As a very broad indication, judgments tend to follow between three to nine months after the conclusion of the appeal hearing, although in some cases it may be earlier than that. Information about judgment hand-downs is usually announced one week in advance. We are unable to give any indication of the likely hand-down date for judgments not listed on the Future judgments page.