David Norris (Independent)

The Minister raised the matter of precedent. The Department rather bizarrely objected to the appeals officer referring to earlier decisions by other appeals officers and the chief appeals officer. Such decisions, as the Minister said, could not set precedents. The chief appeals officer said it was not appropriate for appeals officers to refer to "details" of previous cases in their decisions or reports. However, he agreed with the argument made by FLAC that while previous decisions were not binding in detail - this is the telling phrase - it was important to identify the underlying general principles so decisions would not be arbitrary and applicants could know the case they would have to make.