2025 Disclosure - FOI

FOI disclosure 2025

Request

1. Staffing & Resourcing

  1. How many full-time equivalent staff are currently employed in the Registry (including administrative, case management, and legal officers and support roles)?
  2. Has there been any reduction or increase in Registry staffing levels since 2020?
  3. Are any Registry functions currently outsourced or seconded from other departments?

2. Case Statistics & Backlog

  1. How many active appeals and petitions for permission to appeal (PTA) are currently before the Supreme Court?
  2. How many PTAs were:
    1. Received
    2. Accepted for hearing
    3. Refused

...in each case over the last three calendar years?

3. Case Management Timeframes

  1. What is the average time from submission of a PTA to the issuance of a listing notice?
  2. What is the maximum and minimum time recorded for a PTA curt order / decision in the past 12 months?

4. How many active cases currently before the Court concern:

  1. Issues of constitutional significance
  2. Allegations of systemic governmental failure
  3. Requests for emergency or expedited hearing

5. Digital & Remote Processes

  1. What percentage of petitions are now processed through the online Portal?
  2. Are Registry officers authorised to communicate delays or hold requests orally, or must all directions be issued in writing?

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that some of the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court. The answers to your questions are laid out in numbered points below.

1. Staffing & Resourcing

  1. There are 28 members of staff employed in the Registry, and there is currently one vacancy.
  2. The number of staff in Registry has decreased by 1 since 2020.
  3. No Registry functions are currently outsourced or seconded from other departments.

2. Case Statistics & Backlog

  1. There currently are 125 active appeals and petitions for permission to appeal.
  2. Information on how many PTAs have been received is available in our Annual Report & Accounts. However, in the interest of being helpful we have reproduced them here. This information is recorded by financial year rather than calendar year.
    1. PTAs received
      1. 2022-23: 153
      2. 2023-24: 185
      3. 2024-25: 177
    2. Granted
      1. 2022-23: 70
      2. 2023-24: 48
      3. 2024-25: 61
    3. Refused
      1. 2022-23: 196
      2. 2023-24: 146
      3. 2024-25: 109

3. Case Management Timeframes

  1. Before the new system was launched on 4 December 2024, the average time from submission to the issuance of a listing notice was 171 days. Following the launch of the new portal, the average time is now 105 days.
  2. The minimum recorded time in the past 12 months was 16 days; the maximum recorded time in the past 12 months was 196 days.

4. How many active cases currently before the Court concern:

The Court does not hold the information requested in questions 1 and 2 under the title ‘How many active cases currently before the Court concern’. There have been 24 requests for emergency or expedited hearings in active cases.

5. Digital & Remote Processes

  1. 100% of new cases are now processed through the portal.
  2. Registry staff communicate delays or hold requests both orally and in writing.

Reply sent : August 2025

Request

The number of inward secondments from technology and AI companies that have worked in your department during the period from 05/07/2024 to the present.

For each of these secondments during this period, please provide:

The organisation the individual was seconded from

The date they commenced their secondment

The date they concluded/will conclude their secondment

Whether your department paid the secondee/reimbursed their organisation.

A brief summary of the remit of the secondee.

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court. 

There have been zero secondments from technology and AI companies from 05/07/2024 to present.

Reply sent : June 2025

Request

  1. The number of times confidential or sensitive government information placed into an AI Chatbot has caused a data breach or cyber security incident between 01/01/22 and the day this request is processed.
    1. If possible, please include the nature of each incident, the number of individuals affected (if applicable), and any outcomes or remedial actions taken.
  2. The number of times personal or private information placed into an AI Chatbot has caused a breach in GDPR regulation between 01/01/22 and the day this request is processed.
    1. If possible, please include the nature of each incident, the number of individuals affected (if applicable), and any outcomes or remedial actions taken.
  3. Which AI Chatbot tool the department allows civil servants and ministers to use, or if applicable any bespoke AI Chatbot the department uses.

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court. 

There have been zero data breaches relating to AI or Generative AI chatbots since 1 January 2022.

The UK Supreme Court does not use AI or Generative AI tools in any of its work.

Reply sent : May 2025

Request

Can you please confirm the total cost of the entire legal proceedings in relation to today’s ruling on the Equality Act’s definition of sex and gender?

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court.

The running of court hearings forms part of the general running costs of the Court and so it is not possible to calculate the cost of an individual hearing.

We do not hold information about the costs incurred by parties in the process of taking these hearings through this court or lower courts, nor of any outstanding costs between the parties. For this information, you may wish to contact the parties directly

Reply sent : May 2025

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to know the following:

Are staff within the department under a general instruction to use AI or Generative AI tools to assist your work?

Is your department currently using AI tools or Generative AI tools to assist your work? If so, what is your department’s budget for (Gen) AI tools?

Has your department instructed the agencies and bodies working for your department to use AI as part of their work?

Can you name the AI tools that your department uses?

Does your department have an AI strategy?

If your department does not have an AI strategy, is it planning to have an AI strategy?

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court.

The UK Supreme Court does not use AI or Generative AI tools in any of its work. The Court does not have an AI strategy and there are currently no plans to produce an AI strategy.

Reply sent : March 2025

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