just to check - is this like a grand jury in that a decision will be made if the case can go forward
I’ve not dialled in and so don’t know the details (although I am interested in the substantive hearing since I have a couple of cases on similar points) but it’s a preliminary hearing only. A prelim like this is held when there are points that need to be determined in advance of the hearing. For example, in disability discrimination claims we often have a hearing first to determine whether the claimants condition amounts to a disability. This is because there is no point in hearing lots of evidence about alleged discrimination if they don’t have a condition that qualifies as a disability in the first place. This hearing was I believe about which respondents are relevant respondents. One or more might be removed as parties (although this is quite unusual unless it is really clear that there is a good legal reason for doing so).