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 email.

Central government:

• The Leader of the House of Commons has presented a command paper to Parliament on the implications of devolution for England.
• EUR-Lex has announced that from 1 January 2015, the numbering of EU legal acts will change.

Children’s services:

• The Court of Appeal has clarified the requirements for social work practice and the judiciary in care proceedings where the final care plan is one of adoption (Re R (a child)).
• The High Court has considered whether a:
  • local authority can be either vicariously liable or liable under a non-delegable duty for the abuse inflicted by foster carers on a child (NA v Nottinghamshire County Council); and
  • child is abandoned under section 20(1)(b) of the Children Act 1989 if a mother leaves the home (R (C, a child by his grandfather and litigation friend L) v Buckhinghamshire County Council).

Civil litigation:

• The High Court (Distribution of Business) Order 2014, which distributes applications for writs of habeas corpus between the Queen’s Bench and Family Divisions of the High Court, will come into force on 6 April 2015.
• The Commercial Court has considered whether it was unjust to displace the general rule in CPR 36.14 where the overall result, following a split trial on liability and quantum, was that the claimants had failed to beat the defendants’ Part 36 offers (Ted Baker plc and another v AXA Insurance UK plc and others).
• The Court of Protection has described the case management provisions in the Court of Protection Rules 2007 as inadequate in tackling delay and costs in the Court of Protection (A & B (Court of Protection: Delay and Costs)).

Commercial:

• The Consumer Rights Bill has had its third reading in the House of Lords and has been returned to the House of Commons. Some further minor amendments have been added since the Bill was reprinted at the end of the Lords’ Report stage.

Employment and pensions:

• The EAT has upheld an employment tribunal’s decision to strike out a whistleblowing claim for being out of time (McKinney v London Borough of Newham).
• The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England, Wales and Scotland have issued new practice directions in the light of recent decisions on holiday pay.
• The Ministry of Justice has published tribunal statistics for July to September 2014. The statistics show a continuing trend of declining numbers of employment tribunal claims being presented.

Environment:

• The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (Allocation of Allowances for Payment) (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2014 will come into force on 15 April 2015.
• The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the High Court’s decision that a Strategic Environmental Assessment was not needed in respect of safeguarding directions made by the Secretary of State for Transport under the planning regime for the proposed new High Speed 2 rail network (R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd and others) v Secretary of State for Transport).
• Natural England has published a summary of the changes it is making to general and class licences, which authorise activities that are otherwise prohibited under wildlife legislation. The changes come into force on 1 January 2015.
• Defra has issued a consultation on making flood defence consents part of the Environmental Permitting regime.
• HMRC has published its response to its May 2014 consultation on the landfill tax treatment of waste “fines” (fine material left after the mechanical treatment of waste).

Equality Act 2010:

• The Court of Appeal has considered whether a service provider had made reasonable adjustments to avoid disadvantaging passengers who are wheelchair users (FirstGroup PLC v Doug Paulley).

FOI and data protection:

• The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (Commencement No 9) Order 2014 will bring section 45 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 fully into force on 1 January 2015.
• The Data Protection (Assessment Notices) (Designation of National Health Service Bodies) Order 2014 will come into force on 1 February 2015.
• The Home Office has launched a consultation on the updated acquisition and disclosure of communications data code of practice and the new retention of communications data code of practice.
• The Surveillance Camera Commissioner has published his first annual report for the period 2013 to 2014.
• The EU Justice Ministers meeting in the Justice and Home Affairs Council have reached a partial general approach on specific aspects of the draft General Data Protection Regulation, which the European Commission put forward in 2012 as part of a package meant to reform the current EU data protection regime.

Local government:

• The High Court has held that the London Borough of Enfield’s decision under the Housing Act 2004 to designate the whole borough for both additional licensing of houses in multiple occupation and selective licensing of private rented sector properties was unlawful for a failure to consult as a result of a failure to consult those likely to be affected (R (Regas) v London Borough of Enfield).

Property and planning:

• The Stamp Duty Land Tax Bill 2014-15 has been introduced into the House of Commons and received its first reading.
• HMRC and HM Treasury have published draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2015, together with consultation responses and technical notes, containing measures of interest to property practitioners.
• The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (Commencement No 9) Order 2014 will bring into force, on 1 January 2015, section 45 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in relation to undertakers whose areas are wholly or mainly in Wales.
• The government has:
  •  published Business Rates Avoidance: Discussion paper and is seeking comments; and
  • launched a consultation on a new scheme that will offer a 20% discount to an estimated 100,000 first time buyers of newly built homes.

Public procurement:

• The ECJ has:
  • handed down a ruling on a reference from an Italian court asking about the right of a contracting authority not to proceed with a tender and the scope of judicial review (Croce Amica One Italia Srl v Azienda Regionale Emergenza Urgenza); and
  • handed down its ruling on a preliminary reference from an Italian court relating to an Italian law that allows the direct award of public contracts for the provision of medical transport services to voluntary organisations (Azienda sanitaria locale No. 5 ‘Spezzino and Others v San Lorenzo società cooperative sociale and Others).
• The Crown Commercial Service has published:
  • guidance on options for public sector buyers when buying goods and services; and
  • a procurement policy note on references for suppliers as part of the public procurement regime.
• Ofgem has published a document setting out an update on its approach to the Offshore Transmission Owner build option under the tendering regime for granting offshore transmission licences.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Legislative Reform (Entertainment Licensing) Order 2014, which deregulates aspects of entertainment licensing under the Licensing Act 2003, will come into force on 6 April 2015.
• The CMA has published advice for local authorities on the competition law issues connected with high-strength alcohol schemes.
• The Children (Performances and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014 will come into force on 6 February 2015.