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.
Central government:
- The House of Commons library has published two briefing papers on Brexit, discussing economic, business and transport policy issues and EU external agreements post Brexit.
Children’s services:
- The Scottish Court of Session, under the nobile officium and parens patriae jurisdictions, has made interim orders to authorise, recognise and enforce secure accommodation orders made by the English High Court (Re Children X, J, L & Y).
Civil litigation:
- The High Court has dismissed an application for further time to pay a costs order and for relief from sanctions to bring the application out of time. The court found that the applicant was in fact seeking deferment of the requirement to pay, and warned against any indirect attempt to appeal the order (R (Bhandal) v HMRC and others).
Employment and pensions:
- The Scottish Government has issued a consultation on the draft Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill.
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a report on whether the law on religion or belief is working, pursuant to its duty under the Equality Act 2010 to monitor the effectiveness of equality and human rights legislation.
- The Pensions Ombudsman has ruled that a LGPS defined benefit scheme was not required to provide investment information that was of potential relevance to the religious beliefs of a prospective member (Determination in a complaint by Mrs D).
FOI and data protection:
- The Information Commissioner has issued a decision notice upholding a decision by NHS England not to release detailed information regarding Individual or Exceptional Funding Requests for stem cell transplantation. NHS England was justified in its application of the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (personal information) (ICO decision notice FS50645552).
Health:
- The High Court has rejected a damages claim in negligence against a Healthcare Trust which was treating a patient who then suffered a psychotic episode and committed manslaughter, on the grounds of public policy (Henderson v Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust).
Housing:
- The High Court has held that a London Borough’s decision to regenerate a social housing estate was not unlawful on account of either its consultation of residents or the supporting officer’s report, and that the removal of secure tenants’ right to buy homes on the estate did not engage Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights (R (Plant) v Lambeth London Borough Council).
- The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on its proposals for paying for supported housing.
Local government law:
- The High Court has held that:
- a defendant combined authority’s consultation on an expanded constituent area did not satisfy the statutory criteria in section 113 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (R (Derbyshire County Council) v Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority); and
- a planning permission granted for development by a council was unlawful as the council had failed (among other matters) to provide reasons for the decision to grant the permission (R (Shasha and another) v Westminster City Council).
Property and planning:
- The Law Society has issued guidance on the imposition of VAT on CON29 and CON29O searches.
Public procurement:
- The ECJ has held that a bidder who has been definitively excluded from an award procedure cannot challenge the award decision (Bietergemeinschaft Technische Gebäudebetreuung GesmbH und Caverion Österreich GmbH v Universität für Bodenkultur Wien and others).
Regulation and enforcement:
- The Court of Appeal has quashed a sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment imposed for an offence of bribery and substituted a sentence of 27 months (R v Hussain).
Practical Law In brief