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 Crime and Courts Act 2013 (Commencement No 10 and Transitional Provision) Order 2014 has been made and came into force on 22 April 2014.
• The Court of Appeal has:
  • dismissed an appeal against a decision granting relief from sanction following a failure by both parties to serve witness statements on time (Chartwell Estate Agents v Fergis Properties SA and another); and
  • ruled on what will constitute inadmissible opinion evidence (Rogers and another v Hoyle).
• The High Court has:
  • held that a document referred to in court was a public document under CPR 31.22 (NAB v Serco Ltd and another); and
  • stated that the Mitchell guidelines are not applicable to applications for time extensions made before a deadline has expired and before an applicant is in default (Kaneria v Kaneria and others).

Commercial:

• The Court of Appeal has held that a principal could not end its agent’s authority to collect payments by terminating the agency contract (Bailey v Angove’s Pty Ltd).

Education and social services:

• The following pieces of legislation have been made and came into force on 22 April 2014:
  • Children and Families Act 2014 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2014; and
  • Crime and Courts Act 2013 (Family Court: Transitional and Saving Provision) Order 2014.
• An amended consolidated version of the Family Procedure Rules is now available.
• The High Court has ruled that a biological father of a child should not be notified that the child’s stepfather had applied to adopt him (A & B v P Council).
• The DfE has published a consultation on local authority powers to delegate children’s social care functions to third party providers.

Employment and pensions:

• The EAT has considered the effect of contributory conduct on the basic and compensatory awards in a constructive dismissal claim (Frith Accountants Ltd v Law).
• The Joint Committee has published a report on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill.

Environment:

• The Court of Appeal has held that the time limits for immunity from planning enforcement are compatible with the Environmental Impact Directive (85/337/EC) (R (Evans) v Basingstoke and Deane BC and another).
• The First-tier Tribunal (Tax) has confirmed that methane-producing material used for generating electricity which is sent to landfill is “discarded as waste” (Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd v Revenue and Customs).
• The Secretary of State has extended the policy on deciding planning appeals on renewable energy developments to April 2015.
• The Environment Agency has:
  • confirmed which premises dealing with hazardous waste do not need to be registered; and
  • published a briefing for operators of permitted waste operations and of installations.
• Defra has published a consultation on reforming water management guidance.

FOI and data protection:

• The ICO has published guidance on complaints handling procedures.
• The Article 29 Working Party has published opinions on:
  • the legitimate interest condition;
  • anonymisation techniques; and
  • surveillance of electronic communications.

Local government:

• The Cabinet Office has published election guidance on the conduct of civil servants in the run up to the European Parliament and local government elections taking place on 22 May 2014.

Public procurement:

• The European Commission has sent a reasoned opinion to Sweden asking it to comply with the public procurement rules by ensuring effective review procedures for illegally awarded public service concession contracts.