REUTERS | Ricardo Moraes

In brief for week ending 2 September 2015

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.

Children’s services:

  • The High Court has considered the need for healthy professional scepticism in relation to the whole family when dealing with radicalisation (London Borough of Tower Hamlets v B).

Civil litigation:

Commercial:

Employment and pensions:

  • The Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge brought by Unison against the introduction of fees in the employment tribunals and the EAT (R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor and another).
  • The Pensions Ombudsman has updated his guidance to members of the police and firefighter’s pensions schemes affected by the determination in the complaint by Mr W Milne against the Government Actuary’s Department.

Environment:

  • The DECC has published a consultation on a fundamental review of the feed-in tariffs scheme, which provides financial support for smaller-scale renewable electricity generation.
  • The Environment Agency has announced the government’s decision on amendments to definitions in guidance to the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009.

FOI and data protection:

  • The Upper Tribunal has:
    • upheld an FTT(IR) decision ordering the Information Commissioner’s Office to disclose the names of the journalists (referred to in its “What price privacy” report) who had instructed private investigators involved in the illegal trade of personal information (Information Commissioner v Christopher Colenso-Dunne); and
    • set aside an FTT(IR) decision obliging the Nursing and Midwifery Council to confirm or deny whether it held the names of witnesses interviewed at an investigating committee hearing (Information Commissioner v CF and another).
  • The FTT(IR) has directed the Information Commissioner to seek further information from Cambridge University about how it had reached its estimate of the costs of responding to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in particular regarding the University’s automated searches of its email systems (Kirkham v Information Commissioner).

Health:

  • Monitor has published guidance on transactions involving new care models to supplement other guidance for foundation trusts on mergers. The guidance sets out a three stage process for review of the transaction.

Property and planning:

  • The High Court has:
  • The DCLG has:
    •  published the government’s response to a consultation on planning policy for traveller sites; and
    • updated its guidance to state that the formula used to calculate the redemption figure for the statutory redemption of a rentcharge is no longer viable.
  • The Land Registry has issued a direction in relation to first registration applications where the title documents are unavailable or title is claimed by reason of adverse possession of unregistered land.

Public procurement:

  • The Crown Commercial Service has published a new Procurement Policy Note on supporting apprenticeships and skills through public procurement.
  • Monitor has published its final report on an investigation into the commission of community services for adults with complex care needs in eastern Devon.
Practical Law In brief

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *