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 Cabinet Office has published guidance on the right to contest the use of central government land and property and how to apply for its release.
Civil litigation:
- The High Court has:
- considered disputed points over the terms of a freezing order, including whether the order should include the usual exception for ordinary business expenses, living expenses and legal costs (Parvalorem v Oliveira and others); and
- looked at the meaning of “adequate remedy” in the American Cyanamid sense, where there is a contractual clause limiting recoverable damages, when considering an application for a prohibitory injunction (AB v CD)
Commercial:
- The House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has published its Sixth Report of Session 2013 – 2014, in which it has recommended major changes to the Draft Consumer Rights Bill.
Education and children’s services:
- The Children’s Homes and Looked after Children (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2013 have been made.
- The School Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of Schools) Regulations 2013 and the School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013 have been made.
- The School Admission Appeals Code (Appointed Day) (Wales) Order 2013 has been made, which brought the School Admission Appeals Code into force in Wales from 1 January 2014.
Employment and pensions:
- The President of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales has issued guidance on postponements and default judgments under the Employment Tribunals Rules 2013.
Environment:
- Defra has published a Waste Management Plan for England.
FOI and data protection:
- The ECJ has ruled on how to determine whether water companies are public authorities under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (Fish Legal v The Information Commissioner and others).
- The Ministry of Justice has published guidance and an FAQ regarding complaints about defamatory material posted on websites.
Local government:
- Two Acts have been passed dealing with the powers of local government in London: the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2013 and the City of London (Various Powers) Act 2013.
- The draft Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been published for the approval of Parliament.
- The High Court has refused a claimant councillor’s application for judicial review of a decision by the local authority’s standards committee that comments he had posted on a blog breached the authority’s code of conduct (R (Dennehy) v London Borough of Ealing).
- The DCLG has published guidance for local authorities on weekly bin collections.
- The Local Government Association has published a report, Rewiring of Public Services, on the system of business rates retention that was introduced on 1 April 2013.
- The Welsh Government has published a consultation on draft statutory guidance for the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales on local authority chief executives’ pay.
Public procurement:
- Monitor has published final versions of its enforcement guidance and substantive guidance on the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No2) Regulations 2013.
Regulation and enforcement:
- The Health and Safety Executive has published a new Approved Code of Practice for managing and controlling asbestos.