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 Care and Support (Ordinary Residence) (Specified Accommodation) (Wales) Regulations 2015 have been made and will come into force on 6 April 2016.

Children’s services:

• The Court of Appeal has considered the correct approach to be taken when the court is presented with a local authority interim care plan for immediate separation of the child from his parents and the parents’ proposal for the family to be kept together through a residential assessment. These are two issues and must be dealt with separately in the court’s judgment, and there is no correct order for which issue is decided first (Re F-T (A child)).

Civil litigation:

• The High Court has provided guidance on the format of bills of costs and the costs of the budgeting process (BP v Cardiff & Vale University Local Health Board).
• The judiciary has published the terms of reference for Briggs LJ’s urgent review of the civil courts structure, which was announced on 27 July 2015.
• The Law Society has launched a survey seeking feedback on the likely impact of court and tribunal fee increases being consulted on by the Ministry of Justice.

Education:

• The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has published its determination in case ADA2875, concerning whether a voluntary aided school complied with the School Admissions Code when changing its admission arrangements for September 2015.

Employment and pensions:

• An employment tribunal has held that the time limit for bringing a breach of contract claim, as set out in the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction Order 1994, is not subject to the general six-year time limit set out in section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 (Grisanti v NBC News Worldwide Inc).
• The government has launched a consultation on its proposed introduction of an apprenticeships levy that will let employers choose and pay for the apprenticeship training they want.

Environment:

• Defra has:
  • along with the Welsh Government, launched a consultation on consolidating the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010; and
  • published an updated Great Britain invasive non-native species strategy.

Local government law:

• The Welsh Government has published a consultation document on draft Directions to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales 2016.

Property and planning:

• The High Court has:
  • clarified the interpretation of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 as it applies to the construction of basements beneath residential property (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government); and
  • considered the effect of the expiry of a notice to complete that had made time of the essence of a residential property sale contract (Hakimzay Ltd v Swailes).
• The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has allowed an appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Charity) to amend a controversial Charity Commission scheme for a recreation ground (Baddeley and others (trustees of the Bath Recreation Ground Trust) v Sparrow and others)
• The Planning Inspectorate has:
  • considered an appeal relating to a change of use from residential to a house in multiple occupation (Ms Yvonne Way (Alabare Christian Care Centres) v Carmarthenshire County Council); and
  • dismissed an appeal regarding the proposed construction of a permanent dwelling for an agricultural worker in Wales (McDermott v Caerphilly County BC).
• The DCLG has published:
  • an explanatory memorandum to support the document Improving Planning Performance: Criteria for Designation (Revised 2015); and
  • its response to its March 2015 consultation on amendment to permitted development rights for drilling boreholes for groundwater monitoring for petroleum exploration (including shale gas), and also published a further related consultation.

Public procurement:

• The Northern Ireland High Court has given a ruling on an application for early discovery by the plaintiff in a procurement action (Fox Building & Engineering Ltd v The Department of Finance And Personnel).
• The Crown Commercial Service has published guidance on “public to public” contracts under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
• BIS has announced a new requirement for bidders for government contracts to demonstrate a clear commitment to apprenticeships.
• The Cabinet Office has published consultations on the transposition of Directive 2014/23 on the award of concession contracts and Directive 2014/25 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17.