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 Local Government email.

Adult social services:

• The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report on health and social care in Stoke-on-Trent. The CQC’s review was undertaken as part of a programme of 20 targeted local system reviews examining how older people move through the health and social care system and whether services for the local area are well led.

Central government:

• The Trade Bill 2017-19 has completed its first reading in the House of Commons. A published version of the Bill is available, with detailed explanatory notes.
• The Administrative Court has granted a declaration in principle that certain domestic legislation relating to compulsory insurance (in particular, certain sections of the Road Traffic Act 1988, limiting the requirement of insurance to the use of a vehicle on a road or other traffic place) is incompatible with EU law (RoadPeace v Secretary of State for Transport).
• The government has announced that a Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill will implement into UK law the major policies set out in the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU.
• David Davis and Michel Barnier have provided closing remarks following the sixth round of Article 50 negotiations on 9-10 November 2017.
• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper considering the supremacy of EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union post-Brexit.

Children’s services:

• The Family Procedure (Amendment No 3) Rules 2017 will come into force on 27 November 2017. They amend the Family Procedure Rules 2010, to introduce new Part 3A and Practice Direction 3AA on vulnerable persons’ participation in proceedings and giving evidence.
• The Court of Appeal has clarified that parents can exercise their parental responsibility and consent to their child’s confinement, which negates the need for court authorisation of a deprivation of liberty. This applies to children who are 16 years old, if they lack the capacity to give valid consent (Re D (A Child)).
• The Family Court has described the role of the Home Office’s Competent Authority for investigating possible human trafficking within care proceedings (Re M (Children) (Suspected trafficking: Competent Authority)).

Civil litigation:

• The Court of Appeal has considered an appeal against a decision of a Senior Costs Judge that the new proportionality rule in CPR 44.3(2) and (5) applied to additional liabilities (BNM v MGN).
• The High Court has:
  • added a gloss to the test to be applied when considering whether documents benefit from legal advice privilege on the basis that they reveal the substance of the legal advice given (Edwardian Group Ltd and another v Singh and others); and
  • departed from the ordinary costs consequences of late acceptance of a Part 36 offer, awarding the defendant offeror standard basis costs for a period pre-expiry of the relevant period, and indemnity basis costs thereafter (Optical Express Ltd and others v Associated Newspapers Ltd).

Education:

• The Court of Appeal has refused an application by the Association of Muslim Schools to be joined as an interested party or intervener to enable it to apply for permission to appeal a dismissed claim to the Supreme Court. In an earlier decision, the Court of Appeal had allowed an appeal by Ofsted and dismissed the judicial review claim of the Muslim-faith school (Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills v The Interim Executive Board of Al-Hijrah School).
• The Health and Safety Executive has announced that the board of governors at a primary school had pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and been fined £4,000 in the Magistrates’ Court.
• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on the implementation of the national funding formula for schools in England.

Employment and pensions:

• The ECJ has held that the 24-hour weekly rest period in Article 5 of the Working Time Directive may be granted on any day in the seven-day reference period (Maio Marques da Rosa v Varzim Sol – Turismo, Jogo e Animação SA).
• The EAT has confirmed that a pension scheme rule that allowed a part-time member’s pension to be pro-rated did not disadvantage workers who worked a combination of full-time and part-time service (Parker v Medical Defence Union Services Limited and another).
• An employment tribunal has held that the removal of a non-executive director for giving media interviews about his opposition to adoption by same-sex couples was not an act of religion or belief discrimination (Page v NHS Trust Development Authority).
• The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman has upheld a complaint that the City of Wolverhampton Council LGPS had failed to properly assess a member’s entitlement to ill-health early retirement, under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (Determination in a complaint by Mrs T).

Environment:

• The High Court has refused a developer’s application under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to quash the decision of a planning inspector who had rejected appeals against refusal of two planning permissions by a local authority (Gladman Developments Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and others).
• The environmental NGO ClientEarth has commenced its third judicial review challenge against the UK government in relation to its air quality plans.
• The Environment Secretary has announced the UK government’s plans to consult on a new, independent body for environmental standards following Brexit.
• The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published a consultation on developing a National Policy Statement for water resources and on proposals to amend the definition of nationally significant water infrastructure in the Planning Act 2008.

FOI and data protection:

• The Advocate General has opined on the definition of a data controller, identification of applicable national law and supervisory authority on a reference from the Federal Administrative Court in Germany (Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein v Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbH).
• The ICO has announced that a charity employee has pleaded guilty in the Crown Court to unlawfully obtaining personal data under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 and been fined £1,860.25.

Health:

• The High Court has held that withdrawal of nutrition and hydration from patients who lack capacity does not necessarily require court approval (NHS Trust v Y and another).

Housing:

• The High Court has dismissed an appeal by a local authority against a County Court decision refusing to grant a possession order on the basis that despite the authority’s evidence to the contrary the respondent was still occupying the property as her “only or principal home” (London Borough of Southwark v Ibidun).

Local government law:

• The Department for Communities and Local Government has published a consultation on proposals for updating the prudential framework which applies to local authority borrowing and investment decisions in England.

Property and planning:

• The Upper Tribunal has determined the compulsory purchase compensation payable in respect of a maisonette on a housing estate, by considering the comparables evidence from properties on nearby estates built in different architectural styles (Glasspool v London Borough of Southwark).
• HM Land Registry has announced that it is making available for free its Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data and its Overseas Companies Ownership Data.
• The Law Society has published two short form model office leases.

Public procurement:

• A European Commission notice on state aid recovery interest rates and reference/discount rates for all 28 EU member states applicable from 1 December 2017 has been published in the Official Journal.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Court of Appeal has:
  • held that a mere mis-statement of a name on a summons could be amended under section 123 of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980, notwithstanding the expiry of the statutory time limit, in particular as there was no doubt as to the identity of the defendant (Platinum Crown Investments Ltd v North East Essex Magistrates Court v Colchester Borough Council); and
  • upheld a costs order made in favour of a local authority prosecutor save for the cost of instructing a second counsel (R v Rahal).
• The High Court has dismissed an appeal by way of case stated against a decision of a district judge to dismiss a case against a private hire taxi company for offences under section 46(1)(e)(i) and (ii) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (Milton Keynes Council v Skyline Taxis and Private Hire).