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 Civil Courts Order 2014 will be coming into force on 22 April 2014.
• The Court of Appeal has rejected an argument that the late admission of evidence at trial constituted grounds for an appeal (SEP Properties Ltd and another v Chubb Electronic Security Ltd).
• The High Court has granted a claimant relief from sanctions and a retrospective time extension in a medical negligence claim, applying the Mitchell v News Group Newspapers guidelines (SXK v West Hertfordshire Hospitals).
• The Ministry of Justice has:
  • announced a programme of court and tribunal reform; and
  • published a second report on its review of the Law Commission.
• The CPR Committee has agreed amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules governing costs management.

Commercial:

• The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a consultation on draft age discrimination guidance in relation to service users.

Education and social services:

• The Children and Families Act 2014 (Commencement No 1) Order 2014 has been made.
• The Contracting Out (Local Authorities Social Services Functions) (England) Order 2014 has come into force.
• The Supreme Court has held that three individuals who lacked capacity and had been accommodated by their local authorities were deprived of their liberty (P v Cheshire West and Chester Council).
• The DfE has published:
  • a consultation on changes to the role of local authorities in funding early education places; and
  • a single model funding agreement for Academies and free schools.

Employment and pensions:

• The Employment Tribunals (Early Conciliation: Exemptions and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been made.
• The EAT has held that “activities” carried out by an incoming service provider were fundamentally the same as those undertaken by the outgoing service provider for the purposes of a service provision change under TUPE (Qlog Limited v O’Brien and others).

Environment:

• The IPCC has published its second working group report on adaptation to climate change.
• Defra has published guidance on how materials recovery facilities should report the results of mixed waste testing.

FOI and data protection:

• The Supreme Court has held that information concerning the Charity Commission’s inquiry into the Mariam appeal was exempt from disclosure under FOIA but this could be challenged under charities legislation and common law (Kennedy v Charity Commission).
• The ICO has:
  • required the DfE to disclose information relating to its reason to refuse funding for Sandwell Council’s Building Schools for the Future scheme;
  • ruled that the Disclosure and Barring Service had breached the Data Protection Act 1998 by failing to update its application form to reflect current rules; and
  • published its information rights plan for 2014-17.

Housing:

• The Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal against a decision by a local authority that in its view an applicant for housing assistance was intentionally homeless as a result of excessive expenditure and a failure to pay rent (Farah v London Borough of Hillingdon).
• The High Court has considered what will amount to a “storey” under HMO legislation (Bristol City Council v Digs (Bristol) Ltd).

Local government:

• The High Court has held that a political party branch chairman could be considered to be a publisher in a defamation case even if he had not authored the materials himself (McEvoy v Michael).

Property and planning:

• The Mobile Homes Act 2013 (Commencement and Saving Provision) (England) Order 2014 has been made.
• The Court of Appeal has:
  • considered the meaning of “refuses” and “neglects” to act effectively in a case concerning the Party Wall Act Etc. Act 1996 (Patel and another v Peters and others); and
  • held that a net contribution clause in a professional appointment was effective in limiting an architect’s liability (West and another v Ian Finlay and Associates (a firm)).
• Defra and the Environment Agency have published guidance on how to complete a flood risk assessment as part of a planning application.
• The government has published a consultation on the criteria for identifying underperforming local planning authorities and restricting the use of section 106 affordable housing contributions.
• The BSI has published a final version of PS 1192-3 in relation to using building information modelling for the operational phase of a project.
• The HSE has published a consultation on changing the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Public procurement:

• New directives on public procurement and concession contracts have been published in the Official Journal.
• The Department of Health has published guidance on procurement transparency for NHS providers.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Trading Standards Institute has published its written submission to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee on the Consumer Rights Bill 2013-14.