The latest statistics are now available on the number of hearings relating to injunctions in civil proceedings. The data focus on applications made in the High Court and Court of Appeal in London from July 2013 – December 2013. This is the fifth statistics  bulletin on privacy injunctions of this nature.

Such applications typically consider injunctions requested to prohibit the publication of private or confidential information. They also include applications requesting the continuation of an injunction, appeals against granted injunctions and those injunctions which are refused. The report focuses on super injunctions, but includes other types as well.

Bearing in mind that the data is only for five months or so, these are the main findings as listed on the Government’s website:

• There was one proceeding in which the High Court in London considered an application for a new interim injunction prohibiting the publication of private or confidential information.
• There was one proceeding in which the High Court considered whether to continue or amend an interim injunction.
• There were no proceedings in which the High Court considered whether to issue a final permanent injunction.
• Also no proceedings in the Court of Appeal were heard for an appeal against a grant or refusal of an interim or final injunction.

Data for injunctions of this nature are fairly new. In April 2010, The Master of the Rolls chaired a new committee which was set up specifically to look at the legal and procedural aspects of privacy injunctions. This committee raised serious concerns in their report about the growing phenomenon and as a result, the committee decided it would be important to start collecting statistics in this area. Prior to their report published in 2011, no such information was ever collected.

It is a disappointing bulletin in so much as there is very little detail about what types of cases these injunctions involve. As family law ‘injunctions’ are not always technically viewed as injunctions it is also hard to tell whether orders prohibiting the publication of details in family law cases have been included.

There is most definitely room for improvement in these bulletins. Let’s see you rock it, boys.