BA, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors

Sonali Naik QC and Ali Bandegani (instructed by Wilson Solicitors LLP) for the Claimant Richard Evans (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Defendants Hearing date: 21.12.21 Judgment as delivered in open court at the hearing ____________________

HTML VERSION OF JUDGMENT AS DELIVERED IN OPEN COURT AT THE HEARING HTML VERSION OF JUDGMENT APPROVED ____________________

ii) The position of "additional family members" under the Afghan Programme is specifically addressed in the June 2021 Additional Guidance. It is addressed in a section which is headed "Consideration of exceptional circumstances" (p.11). Within that section there is a sub-heading which is entitled: "What constitutes exceptional circumstances?". And within the section under that sub-heading there is a sub-sub-heading which is entitled "security concerns".

i) One of them is this. Why is it that the FCDO "Recommendation" (within an FCDO "Interpretation") has come to govern, or be regarded as governing � as if by way of a set of exhaustive criteria � questions relating to accompanying family members and principal evacuees? After all, the left-hand column in the same Table (as part of the same "Interpretation" instrument) contains "summary guidance" which is broader. The "summary guidance" speaks of "unjustifiably harsh consequences" for a "family member", and of "exceptional circumstances".