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 House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on the key funding pressures that are faced by adult social care services in England.

Central government:

• The Institute for Government has published an analysis paper, Brexit and the European Court of Justice. The paper sets out the key questions and trade-offs for the UK government as it begins to legislate for a new relationship with the Court of Justice of the European Union after Brexit.
• The Bar Council’s Brexit Working Group has published the third edition of “The Brexit Papers” to help the government assess the most pressing legal concerns arising from the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU.
• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper discussing public inquiries, and coroners’ investigations and inquests.

Children’s services:

• The High Court has refused to declare that notice of adoption proceedings to the mother of a relinquished child should be dispensed with (A Local Authority v The Mother and another).
• The President of the Family Division has published guidance confirming that judges can speak to OFSTED inspectors when local authority children’s services are being inspected.

Civil litigation:

• Papers from the Civil Procedure Rule Committee meeting on 5 May 2017 have been made publicly available. A number of developments were discussed, including the announcement of a new fixed recoverable costs scheme and developments relating to the new format bill of costs.

Education:

• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on reforms relating to technical education.

Environment:

• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper providing a general overview of the extent of the problem of fly-tipping and the powers and responsibilities of the Environment Agency, local authorities and landowners to deal with it.

FOI and data protection:

• The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated its subject access code of practice to reflect developments in recent Court of Appeal judgments. The main updates to the code concern obligations on data controllers in responding to subject access requests (SARs) in relation to the “disproportionate effort” exception and SARs made for collateral purposes.
• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper summarising UK legal developments to date in relation to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018. Parts of the Data Protection Act 1998 need to be repealed to ensure that duplication or inconsistencies with the GDPR do not arise.

Health:

• The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on delayed transfers of care in the NHS. The paper examines recent trends showing that the number of delayed transfer days in England has been increasing, and outlines the mechanisms for reducing delayed transfers.

Housing:

• The High Court has held that a council was entitled to possession of a school bungalow occupied by a caretaker for the school who had been dismissed for gross misconduct (Hertfordshire County Council v Davies).

Local government law:

• The High Court has held that statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government governing the investment strategy for local government pension schemes was outside his statutory powers (R (Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd and another) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government).
• The Local Government Association has published guidance:
  • on secure email usage, aimed at supporting the use of secure email systems across local government organisations; and
  • intended to assist councils with income generation activity.

Property and planning:

• The Court of Appeal has held that a freeholder was not liable under the Defective Premises Act 1972 where a visitor to an undertenant’s flat fell down the stairs and suffered fatal head injuries (Dodd v Raebarn Estates Ltd and others).
• The High Court has held that a judgment debtor acquired a beneficial interest by way of a resulting trust when he purchased a property in the name of a company, and that he subsequently retained that beneficial interest. Accordingly, the judgment creditor was entitled to a final charging order over the property (NRC Holding Ltd v Danilitskiy and others).
• The Land Registry has made minor amendments to three of its practice guides: PG11, PG12 and PG15.

Public procurement:

• The Advocate General has handed down an opinion on a request for a preliminary ruling from the Italian Council of State regarding exclusion from a procurement procedure because of a criminal conviction (Impresa di Construzioni INg. E. Mantovani et Guerrato S.p.A. v Municipality of Bolzano).