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 Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015 (Commencement No 2) Regulations 2016 have been made and bring into force parts of the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015 on 26 September 2016.
• The Welsh Government has published a revised Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice for Wales.

Central government:

• The Boundary Commission for England has commenced a 12 week consultation on its initial proposals for Parliamentary constituencies.
• HM Treasury has announced that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will deliver his first Autumn Statement to Parliament on Wednesday 23 November 2016.
• The organisation Fair Deal for Expats is planning to take legal action against the European Commission president, alleging that his ban on EU officials negotiating with the UK over Brexit is unlawful.

Children’s services:

• The Court of Appeal has confirmed that wardship and the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court cannot be used to require a local authority to accommodate a 17-year-old (Re M (Children)).

Commercial:

• Revised guidance has been published on the National Referral Mechanism, a framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support.

Education:

• The Education and Adoption Act 2016 (Commencement No 2) Regulations 2016 have been made. They brought section 1 of the Education and Adoption Act 2016 into force on 5 September 2016, for the purposes of making regulations which define “coasting schools”.
• The Department for Education has launched a consultation seeking views on the government’s proposals to create a schools system that will ensure that children from all backgrounds have access to good school places.
• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on grammar schools in England.

Employment and pensions:

• The EAT has held that a tribunal correctly approached the question of whether there had been a service provision change in circumstances where a service continued to be provided, but not on behalf of the original client (CT Plus (Yorkshire) CIC v Black and others).

Environment:

• The European Commission has adopted a Report on the implementation of Directive 2006/21/EC (Mining Waste Directive).

FOI and data protection:

• The Scottish Ministers have laid the draft Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Time for Compliance) Regulations 2016 before the Scottish Parliament.The regulations propose to extend the time in which Scottish grant-aided schools and independent special schools are required to respond to requests for information made under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOIA Scotland 2002) and requests for a review of such a school’s actions or of its decision in relation to requests for information under FOIA Scotland 2002.

Property and planning:

• The Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016-17 has been introduced to the House of Commons.
• The Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016-17 unexpectedly omits provisions putting the National Infrastructure Commission on a statutory footing.
• The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 have been made and will come into force on 1 October 2016. The regulations give more power to the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London to intervene if local plans are not effectively delivered.
• The Acquisition of Land (Rate of Interest after Entry) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 have been published and will come into force on 30 September 2016.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government has issued a technical consultation on the implementation of the neighbourhood planning provisions in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill 2016-17.
• The government has postponed its proposals for the privatisation of the Land Registry.

Public procurement:

• The ECJ has:
  • ruled that Directive 2004/18/EC and in particular Article 47, must be interpreted as meaning that national legislation governing the grant of concessions in the field of betting and gambling, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, does not fall within its scope (Domenico Politano); and
  • confirmed that a settlement agreement which has the effect of varying a public contract will be subject to the same tests as are applied to modifications under what is now regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Finn Frogne A/S v Rigspolitiet ved Center for Beredskabskommunikation).
• The General Court has handed down an order on an appeal by Portugal against the European Commission regarding a Commission decision to impose periodic penalty payments on Portugal, following a judgment of the European Court of Justice (Portugal v Commission).
• The European Ombudsman has found no maladministration by the European Commission following an inquiry into alleged irregularities in a tendering procedure, but has suggested improvements to the Commission’s procedures (Decision in case 1874/2013/MG on alleged irregularities in a European Commission tendering procedure).
• The Cabinet Office has published a series of case studies showing how providers apply social value.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Cabinet Office has published a European memorandum on the proposed Directive amending the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, which has been produced by HM Treasury.
• The Legal Services Board, the body tasked with overseeing the various regulators of legal services in England and Wales, has proposed the creation of a single legal services regulator, abolishing itself and the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.
• The Insolvency Service has announced that:
  • a councillor has been disqualified from acting as director following the employment of illegal workers; and
  • the director of a school meals supplier has been given four years of director’s disqualification for breaching 12 food hygiene regulations in 2013.