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.

Central government:

• The Court of Appeal has ruled that the housing benefit cap and the spare room subsidy do not breach the European Convention of Human Rights (R (SG and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and others and R (MA and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and another).

Charities:

• A Memorandum of Understanding has been published on how the Charity Commission will work with BIS, as the principal regulator of further education colleges in England.

Civil litigation:

• The Supreme Court has held by majority that a six-year limitation period applies to claims based on dishonest assistance in the misappropriation of trust funds and the knowing receipt of trust property (Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria).
• The Court of Appeal has unanimously dismissed an appeal against a TCC declaration concerning the interpretation of two apparently conflicting contractual provisions and a contractual order of precedence (RWE Npower Renewables Ltd v J N Bentley Ltd).
• The High Court has:
  • strongly criticised witness statements by two solicitors for the defendant, for failing to comply with Practice Direction 32 (Brownlie v Four Seasons Holdings Inc);
  • considered the criteria for a discretionary transfer order in CPR 30.3(2), in refusing an application for a transfer of proceedings from the Manchester District Registry to the Royal Courts of Justice in London (Bellinger and another v Mercer Ltd and another); and
  • considered when a cause of action in misrepresentation arose, for limitation purposes, providing a useful summary of the authorities on when a cause of action accrues in tort (British Telecommunications plc v Luck and others).
• The TCC has refused a challenge to an award under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (The Secretary of State for Defence v Turner Estate Solutions Ltd).

Education and social services:

• The Court of Appeal has overturned a decision of the High Court regarding which local authority is responsible for providing care and accommodation under the National Assistance Act 1948 (R (Cornwall Council) v Secretary of State for Health and others).
• A High Court judge has criticised the practice in Family Proceedings Courts by which parties (usually the local authority) draft the facts and reasons for a decision in care proceedings that are then adopted by the court to explain its decision (Re NL (A Child) (Appeal: Interim Care Order: Facts And Reasons)).
• The High Court has given a father permission to oppose a placement order by retrospectively applying principles from the subsequent decisions in Re B and Re B-S, which it held to amount to a change in circumstances under section 47(7) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (The Prospective Adopters v IA and another).

Employment and pensions:

• The Senior President of Tribunals has published his Annual Report for 2014, which includes reports for the past year for the EAT, and the employment tribunals in England and Wales and Scotland.

Environment:

• Two major wind energy developers have reached an agreement with NATS to overcome its radar objections to two of their wind farm projects by using technical modifications, which marks a major advance for the wind sector.

FOI and data protection:

• The Court of Appeal has held that a person’s name is personal data under the DPA 1998; unless it is such a common name that, without further information, a person would remain unidentifiable (Efifiom Edem v Information Commissioner and Financial Services Authority).
• The ICO has published a report highlighting areas where social housing organisations should improve their compliance with the DPA 1998.

Human rights:

• The High Court has dismissed an application by the spouse of a journalist for judicial review of his detention and questioning under the Terrorism Act 2000, ruling that the use of the questioning powers was a proportionate interference with press freedom (Miranda v Secretary of State for the Home Department and others).

Local government:

• The Localism Act 2011 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2014 has been made, making changes to council tax calculations.

 Property and planning:

• The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been made, which implement the government’s proposals for reform of the levy.
• The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (which implement the government’s response to its consultation on planning application requirements for onshore oil and gas) came into force on 19 February 2014.
• The Non-Domestic Rating (Small Business Rate Relief) (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2014 comes into force in Wales on 14 March 2014 and extends the temporary increase in the level of small business rate relief in Wales until 31 March 2015.
• The Court of Appeal has considered:
  • the extent of the statutory duty under section 66(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (Barnwell Manor Wind Energy Ltd v East Northamptonshire District Council and others); and
  • whether a transferee was entitled to an easement implied by common intention over the transferor’s retained land to connect to mains services in the public highway (Donovan and another v Rana and another).
• The government has published guidance informing local authorities, businesses and homeowners about schemes that are intended to help homeowners and businesses recover from the recent flooding.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Sentencing Council has published a sentencing guideline for environmental offences, and its response to its consultation on the proposed guideline.