Practical Law

Make sure that you have not missed a key development in your area of the law by reading our latest In brief review of the Practical Law Public Sector e-mail for the week ending 4 September 2013.

Replacing our recommended actions, In brief will include a one sentence summary of all of the legal developments reported in our weekly e-mail to make sure that no matter how busy our subscribers are, they can still keep in touch with all the latest developments.

Civil litigation:

• The Court of Appeal has allowed an application to admit two new claims, to amend the grounds of appeal and for permission to appeal in a mortgage claim (Atkins v Commercial First Business).
• An order which granted an extension of time has been set aside by the High Court on the grounds that the application was issued too late and therefore did not comply with the relevant case management provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules (Baker v Hallam Estates Ltd and another).
• The Court of Session (Scottish Outer House) has refused to enforce an adjudicator’s decision, confirming that a party can raise the principle of “balancing accounts” in insolvency (Heis and others v Perth & Kinross Council).
• The Ministry of Justice has published a response to its consultation on fee remissions for court and tribunal services.

Education and children’s services:

• The Information as to Provision of Education (England) (Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2013 have been published. The regulations require local authorities to provide information on schools places at secondary and now primary schools.
• The Education (Wales) Measure 2011 (Commencement No 2) Order 2013 has been made and will bring sections 22 to 25 of the Measure into force on 19 September 2013.
• The Government of Maintained Schools (Clerk to a Governing Body) (Wales) Regulations 2013 have been made and will come into force on 20 September 2013.
• The High Court has:
  • allowed publication of images of a baby being taken into care (Re J (A Child)); and
  • ruled that parents could discuss the case of their adopted daughter with the media in order to raise awareness of reactive attachment disorder (Re K (A Child: Wardship: Publicity)).
• The Department for Education has published guidance on making significant changes to an existing Academy.
• The Welsh Government is consulting on regulations governing it being notified of school term dates by local authorities.
• The government has responded to recommendations on careers guidance in schools.
• The Copyright Licensing Agency and NLA media access have announced a partnership to streamline copyright licensing for UK educational establishments.

Employment and pensions:

• The Court of Session (Inner House) has held that a dismissal may still be fair where an employer was ignorant or mistaken as to the law (Docherty and another v SW Global Resourcing Ltd).
• The government has published its response to the consultation on proposed changes to TUPE.
• The Pensions Regulator has published its annual report on public-sector pensions governance.

Environment:

• The European Commission has published a draft Regulation on preventing invasion by non-native plants and animals.
• The government has published consultations on:
  • revised planning requirements for onshore oil and gas (including shale gas); and
  • biodiversity offsetting.

Equality Act 2010:

• The independent steering group tasked with reviewing the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 has published its report on the duty.

FOI and data protection:

• The Advocate General has given his opinion on who will be considered a “public authority” under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
• The ICO is investigating breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 by clients of private investigators.

Judicial review:

• The government has published a consultation on proposals for further reform of judicial review.

Local government:

• The government has announced measures to facilitate the setting up of new town and parish councils.
• The Local Government Ombudsman has found the London Borough of Merton guilty of maladministration causing injustice after a private care home that it contracted with, attempted to charge a resident funded by Merton top-up charges to match the price paid by private residents.
• The Auditor General for Wales has announced that he will undertake a special corporate governance inspection of Caerphilly County Borough Council in 2013.

Property and planning:

• A number of new regulations have been published:
  • for applications under section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990;
  • relating to conservation areas and demolition; and
  • planning appeals.
• The Technology and Construction Court has held that a collateral warranty was a construction contract and was therefore subject to the statutory adjudication rules (Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Laing O’Rourke Wales and West Ltd).
• RICS has published a consultation on draft guidance for surveyors acting as independent experts in commercial rent reviews.

Public procurement:

• The European Parliament Internal Market Committee has formally adopted the proposed new directives on public sector procurement, utilities procurement and concessions.
• The European Ombudsman has rejected a complaint against a tender for IT services conducted by the European Commission.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013 (Commencement) Order 2013 has been made bringing the Act into force on 8 October 2013.
• The Trading Standards Institute has published its response to the Draft Consumer Rights Bill to the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee.