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.
Central government:
- The European Commission has published its 2013 Report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
- Council Decision 2014/233/EU on the security rules for protecting EU classified information has been published in the Official Journal and has entered into force.
- The ECJ has ruled on the definition of an electronic communications service and the ability of national regulators to control provision of such services by a company based in another member state (UPC DTH Sàrl v Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság Elnökhelyettese).
- The OECD has published a guide for helping competition authorities to assess the expected impact of their activities.
- The MoJ has announced that there will be no immediate reform to the current statutory framework for legal services regulation.
Civil litigation:
- The Court of Appeal has considered when breach or anticipated breach of an innominate term gives rise to a right to terminate (Valilas v Januzaj).
- The Commercial Court has held that permission was required for documents disclosed in Commercial Court proceedings to be passed onto criminal lawyers for the purpose of seeing whether there was a case for criminal proceedings (Tchenguiz and another v Director of the Serious Fraud Office).
- The High Court has held that a firm of solicitors was liable for wasted costs for failing to inform the court that a hearing would need to be adjourned (Holden & Co LLP v Eastbourne Borough Council).
- In an application to purge contempt under CPR 81.31, the High Court has reduced the period that an applicant should spend in prison from 12 weeks to eight weeks (Her Majesty’s Solicitor General v Dodd).
- The third revision to the second edition of the TCC Guide has been published.
Education and social services:
- The DfE has published:
- statutory guidance setting out the steps that local authorities must take when dealing with any maintained schools that are causing concern; and
- a consultation on simplifying the administration of academies funding.
- The President of the Family Division has commented on the recent family justice reforms and highlighted areas of the family justice system that require future consultation and reform.
- The Court of Protection has held that an individual had the capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to give a tithe to his church, finding that his desire to do so was not a part of his delusional belief system (Re P (capacity to tithe inheritance)).
Employment and pensions:
- The EAT has held that an employer’s age discriminatory comment did not play a material part in employee’s constructive dismissal (Clements v Lloyds Banking plc and others).
Environment:
- The DECC has:
- Defra and the EA have launched a consultation on reform of the regulatory system to control small sewage discharges from septic tanks and small sewage treatment plants in England.
FOI and data protection:
- A man convicted of conspiring to unlawfully obtain personal data under the DPA 1998 has been ordered to pay a £12,000 fine, £8,000 in prosecution costs and to comply with a confiscation order.
Local government:
- The High Court has quashed a council’s decision on the grounds of serious procedural irregularity as it had been taken by the wrong persons, in breach of the council’s constitution (R (Bridgerow Ltd) v Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council).
- The DCLG has published the Local Government Transparency Code 2014.
- The DCLG’s Service Transformation Challenge Panel has issued a call for evidence.
Property and planning:
- The Land Registry has updated Practice Guide 19 – Notices, restrictions and the protection of third party interests in the register and Practice Guide 38 – Costs.
Public procurement and state aid:
- Directive 2014/55 on electronic invoicing in public procurement has been published in the Official Journal.
- The General Court has dismissed an action to challenge a tender procedure run by the European Parliament to procure Maltese translation services (Euris Consult Ltd v European Parliament).
- Advocate General Wahl has given an opinion on a reference from an Italian court relating to an Italian law that allows the direct award of public contracts for the provision of medical transport services to voluntary organisations (ASL No 5 ‘Spezzino’ v San Lorenzo Società Cooperativa Sociale).
- The Crown Commercial Service and the Government Legal Service have published short form terms and conditions for the procurement of low value goods and services by public bodies.
- A European Commission notice on state aid recovery interest rates and reference/discount rates for all 28 EU member states applicable from 1 May 2014 has been published in the Official Journal.