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:
  • published a case management judgment setting out when determination of a preliminary issue may be appropriate (Belhaj and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department and others); and
  • considered the effect of a client’s loss of mental capacity during the course of proceedings on their retainer with their solicitor and held that this would not frustrate or terminate the retainer (Blankley v Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust).
• The government has published its response to its consultation on reform to judicial review and the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill 2013-14.

Commercial:

• The Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Union (Arrangements, Reconstructions and Administration) Order 2014 has been made.

Education and social services:

• The School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013 (Commencement No 4 and Savings Provisions) Order 2014 has been made.
• The Court of Appeal has held that the capacity to consent to sexual relations under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is general and not related to the ability to consent in relation to a particular person (IM v LM).
• The Court of Protection has:
  • considered its jurisdiction in relation to cross-border capacity (Re PO, JO v GO and others); and
  • confirmed that it does not have any discretion or choice as to whether to make a declaration of capacity under section 15 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (YLA v PM and MZ).

Employment and pensions:

• The Deregulation Bill 2013-14 has received its second reading in the House of Commons.
• The Court of Appeal has held that dismissals that were due to a harmonisation were not for an economic, technical or organisational reason (Hazel and another v The Manchester College).
• The High Court has dismissed Unison ‘s judicial review challenge to the introduction of fees in the employment tribunals and the EAT (R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor and another).
• The EAT has held that an employee who, when his employment was terminated,  was not paid for extra hours worked under a flexi-hours scheme, had not suffered an unlawful deduction from wages (Vision Events (UK) Ltd v Paterson).
• The draft Occupational and Personal Pensions Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been published.
• The reforms to the Northern Ireland LGPS have been postponed to 1 April 2015.

Environment:

• The government has published a consultation on amendments to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
• Defra has announced that it will be reducing its activities in the waste management sector in 2014.

Housing:

• The DCLG has published a discussion document on the review of property conditions in the private rented sector.
• The Welsh Local Government Association has published a homelessness toolkit for local authorities.

Local government:

• The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been made.
• The High Court has held that the government had allocated EU structural funds in breach of the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 (R(R)otherham Metropolitan Borough Council and others) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills).

Property and planning:

• The following orders have been made:
  • the Commons (Town and Village Greens) (Trigger and Terminating Events) Order 2014 (which has now has come into force); and
  • the Commons (Severance of Rights) (Wales) Order 2014.
• The Supreme Court has held that a lapse of time is a material consideration when deciding whether to allow an application for rectification of the register of town and village greens under the Commons Registration Act 1965 (Adamson and others v Paddico Ltd, Taylor (on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Markham and Little Francis) v Betterment Properties).
• The Court of Appeal has considered the issue of access and egress points along a right of way (Emmett v Sisson (Rev 1)).
• The High Court has held that a local planning authority is entitled to substitute a description of a different use from that set out in an application for a certificate of lawfulness of existing use or development (R (Freeman) v Wiltshire Council).
• The Welsh Assembly Government has published a technical guidance note on planning and economic development in Wales.
• The Welsh Government has published a consultation on the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2010.

Public procurement and state aid

• The Council of the European Union has adopted new procurement directives and a directive on the award of concession contracts.
• The Advocate General has held that when determining whether a public transport service operator was entitled to compensation would depend on whether the case concerned a public service contract or public service obligation.
• The Scottish Court of Session has lifted the automatic suspension of a contract for provision of municipal waste services (Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd v South Lanarkshire Council).
• The government has:
  •  published draft guidance on new construction procurement models;
  • published revised guidance on measures to promote tax compliance;
  • set out details of its public procurement reform training programme; and
  • announced the extension of the Mystery Shopper scheme.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The government has published guidance on the proposed ban on selling below cost alcohol.
• The Court of Appeal has ruled on the meaning of “knowingly permitted” under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (Walker and Son (Hauliers) Ltd v Environment Agency).