Practical Law

Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reading our In brief review of the latest Practical Law Public Sector e-mail.

Civil litigation:

• The High Court has:
  • held that the Mitchell guidelines apply to renewed applications for permission to appeal under CPR 52.3(5) (Webb Resolutions Ltd v E-Surv Ltd);
  • refused an application for pre-action disclosure in a judicial review proceedings (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection  v Secretary of State for the Home Department);
  • granted a debarring order due to the late service of expert evidence (Chambers v Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust); and
  • indicated that it would be prepared to order specific performance requiring a party to provide a performance bond and collateral warranties (Liberty Mercian Ltd v Cuddy Civil Engineering Ltd and another).

Commercial:

• The Consumer Rights Bill 2013-14 has been introduced into Parliament.
• The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has published a good practice guide on how individuals can raise instances of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 with providers of goods, services and public functions.

Education and social services:

• Guidance has been published on school organisation for maintained schools.
• The High Court has held that an estate was not liable for care home fees under section 7 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 where the individual had been placed in a care home without agreement from the estate that it would cover the fees (Aster Healthcare Limited v Shafi).
• The House of Commons has published a statutory child maintenance note.
• The DfE is currently consulting on draft regulations and guidance on the care of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and trafficked children.

Employment and pensions:

• The following Bills have been introduced to Parliament:
  • The Deregulation Bill 2013-14, which has a number of key employment-related provisions; and
  • The Zero Hours Contract Bill 2013-14.
• The High Court has held that an agreement with a “sweetheart union” meant that an independent union could not apply for statutory recognition (R (Boots Management Services Ltd) v Central Arbitration Committee and another).
• The EAT has held that:
  • a Muslim prison chaplain had not been indirectly discriminated against by the Prison Service’s length of service pay criterion (Naeem v Secretary of State for Justice);
  • e-mails raising concerns about driving in snowy conditions amounted to a qualifying disclosure for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Norbrook Laboratories (GB) v Shaw);
  • a black-listed agency worker was not entitled to bring claims against the end-user construction companies which had ended his assignments as there had been no implied contract between him and the companies (Smith v Carillion (JM) Limited and another); and
  • settlement correspondence was inadmissible under the “without prejudice” rule (Portnykh v Nomura International plc).
• The Court of Appeal has referred USDAW v Ethel Austin Ltd (in administration) and another to the ECJ.
• Acas has:
  • issued guidance on asking and responding to questions regarding discrimination in the workplace; and
  • responded to the consultation on extending the right to request flexible working and the accompanying draft code of practice.
• The Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2014 have been laid before Parliament.
• The Pensions Ombudsman has reported that it will be making a final decision regarding its investigation into a complaint concerning the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme.

Environment:

• The Deregulation Bill 2013-14 has been published, which includes a number of key environmental provisions.
• The Environment Agency has published a guidance manual for Phase 2 of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

FOI and data protection:

• The High Court has held that three residents in England can bring claims against a US company for misuse of their private information and breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (Vidal-Hall and others v Google inc).
• The Upper-tier Tribunal has dismissed an appeal against a decision holding that the Independent Parliament Standards Authority (IPSA) must disclose MPs’ expenses receipts (IPSA v Information Commissioner and Leapman).

Health:

• The DH is consulting on proposals to change CQC registration requirements.
• Monitor is consulting on arrangements to support NHS foundation trusts contemplating mergers.

Housing:

• The House of Commons Library has published a standard note on “pay to stay” social housing tenants.

Local government:

• The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (Commencement No 2 and Transitional Provision) Order 2014 has been made.
• The High Court has held that a council’s decision to refuse to grant a lease to a firm of solicitors was unlawful (R (Trafford) v Blackpool Borough Council).
• The Local Government Association and the Centre for Public Scrutiny have published guidance for authorities seeking to change their governance arrangements.

Property and planning:

• The High Court  has confirmed that a company’s annual liability for business rates was provable in full in a company voluntary arrangement approved after the start of the year for which rates were due (Kaye v South Oxfordshire District Council and another).
• The Land Registry has updated Practice Guides 25 and 52.
• BIS has published a consultation on reforming the Land Registry.

Public procurement:

• The European Commission has:
  • announced that agreement has been reached on the draft directive on e-invoicing in public procurement; and
  • published for consultation, a draft Communication on state aid to promote important projects of common European interest.
• The European Ombudsman has confirmed that there was a conflict of interest in a tender run by the European Commission.
• The Advocate General has held that in his opinion a horizontal in-house transaction could benefit from the in-house exception to the application of procurement procedures in certain cases.