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 High Court has exercised its inherent jurisdiction and ordered that a woman with dual British-Saudi nationality, who had been deprived of liberty by her father in Saudi Arabia, be allowed to return to England or Wales (Al-Jeffery v Al-Jeffery (Vulnerable adult; British citizen)).
• The Local Government Ombudsman has published a report into a complaint against a council, regarding the council’s failure to provide an adult with learning difficulties with appropriate residential care or speech and language therapy.

Central government:

• The government has launched an audit of public services to look into racial disparities in public service outcomes. Departments will need to identify and publish information showing how outcomes differ for people of different backgrounds in a range of areas including health, education, and employment.

Children’s services:

• The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal against final orders made in care proceedings on the ground that the English court had no jurisdiction to make the orders (Re L (Child)).

Education:

• The Department for Education has published new statutory guidance on children missing education.

Employment and pensions:

• The EAT has held that an employment tribunal was entitled to find that an employer was required, as a reasonable adjustment, to continue employing a disabled employee in a more junior role involving less physical activity, preserving his existing rate of pay on an indefinite basis (G4S Cash Solutions (UK) Ltd v Powell).
• The government has announced its intention to launch a consultation on caste discrimination.
• The Women and Equalities Committee has published a report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
• The Pensions Ombudsman has held that a member who joined a pension scheme following a transfer of his employment under TUPE in 1995 was not entitled to added years of pensionable service on his redundancy in 2011, although it had been the transferring Local Government Pensions Scheme employer’s established policy to grant the enhancement (Determination in a complaint by Mr Y).

Health:

• NHS England has published a good practice guide on managing care home closures.

Property and planning:

• The Department for Communities and Local Government has published its response on the consultation for Neighbourhood Planning.

Public procurement:

• The High Court has dismissed a challenge by an unsuccessful bidder, holding that, in entering into a development agreement with a tenderer, a council had complied with its duty under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 to obtain the best consideration reasonably obtainable for the disposal of interests in its land. Further, that the development agreement was not a “public works contract” within the meaning of Directive 2014/24/EU and the council’s decision not to comply with the public procurement regime was both rational and lawful (R (Faraday Development Ltd) v West Berkshire Council and another).
• The European Ombudsman, in finding no maladministration on the part of the European Court of Justice, has made a number of suggestions to improve its tender procedures (Decision of the European Ombudsman on complaint 2377/2013/(PMC)DR concerning the European Court of Justice’s rules governing a tender procedure in the field of translations).

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Court of Appeal has held that it was not a breach of Article 8 of the ECHR to impose an immediate 18 month custodial sentence on a mother of three who had been found guilty of money laundering, without first ordering a pre-sentence report which would have contained information about the children’s welfare (R v Hayes).
• The Justice Committee has published a report on restorative justice. The report recommends that the Ministry of Justice should seek views on a legislative right to restorative justice and how it should be enforced.
• The Law Commission has published a consultation paper on reforming misconduct in public office, seeking the views of stakeholders.