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 email.

Central government:

• BIS has published a consultation document on options for embedding joint working between economic regulators.

Civil litigation:

• The CPRC has announced that it is seeking views on amendments to the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review.
• Jackson LJ’s keynote speech to the Costs Law Reports conference on 30 September 2014 has been published.
• The regulator for members of CILEX has opened the application process for legal executives to gain practice rights in immigration and litigation and related advocacy rights without supervision by an authorised person such as a solicitor.

Education and social services:

• The Designation of Rural Primary Schools (England) Order 2014 came into force on 1 October 2014, designating certain schools as rural primary schools in England.
• The LGO has criticised a local authority for refusing to continue funding school bus passes for two sisters when they moved to another house in the same village.
• The High Court has:
  • repeated its guidance on drafting injunctive orders, how these should comply with Family Procedure Rule 37.9(1), and explained the meaning and test for the word “harassment” when used in injunctive orders (Gloucestershire CC v Newman); and
  • considered an application for the change of both surnames and forenames for two children, as well as an application to vary a contact order for direct contact with older siblings post placement for adoption (London Borough of Haringey v Musa).
• Thirty Nine Essex Street has published the October 2014 issue of its Mental Capacity Law Newsletter, which provides summaries and comments on recent Court of Protection cases and reports on news relevant to the Court of Protection.

Employment and pensions:

• The EAT has:
  • upheld an employment judge’s order that a claimant pay seven deposits to continue with each of seven allegations of discrimination and whistleblowing (Wright v Nipponkoa Insurance (Europe) Ltd); and
  • held that a tribunal erred in making a costs order against a claimant and a wasted costs order against her representative (Robinson and Ojo v Hall Gregory Recruitment Ltd).
• The Conservative Party has proposed various reforms to employment law at its Party Conference.

Environment:

• The High Court has held that the Lord Chancellor had not carried out a proper review of the likely effect of sections 44 and 46 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on mesothelioma claims (R (Whitston (Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK)) v Secretary of State for Justice).
• Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency have published a collection of detailed guidance documents for the animal by-product industry.

Human rights:

• The Conservative Party has published its proposals for changing Britain’s human rights laws if it is re-elected in 2015.

Local government:

• The government has published a revised Local Government Transparency Code, which sets out the minimum data that local authorities should be publishing, the frequency it should be published and how it should be published.
• The LGA has announced that it has set an independent audit company, Public Sector Audit Appointments, to take on public sector auditing responsibilities when the Audit Commission closes.

Property and planning:

• The High Court has considered the conduct of a mortgagee in possession as involuntary bailee of another’s goods, and held that the duty of an involuntary bailee is to do what is right and reasonable. What is right and reasonable will depend upon the particular facts of a case (Campbell v Redstone Mortgages Ltd).
• The DCLG has updated its guidance on how councils should use their Local Plan to protect green belt land and whether they must meet housing needs in full.
• Ofwat has published a consultation on its proposals for updating its policy on how highway drainage charges should be dealt with by new appointees.

Public procurement and state aid:

• The High Court has ruled that Gatwick Airport should not be able to enter into a new contract for the provision of air traffic control services, pending the outcome of an appeal by NATS (Services) Limited (NATS (Services) Ltd v Gatwick Airport Ltd).
• The General Court has dismissed an action that challenged a decision of the European Commission to reject a tender for a project in the Ukraine (Euro-Link Consultants Srl and European Profiles AE Meleton kai Symvoulon Epicheiriseon v European Commission).
• The European Ombudsman has published a decision in a case relating to a complaint that the EU Delegation to Turkey allowed the awarding of an EU tender of a works and supply contract in Turkey to a bidder offering potentially ineligible goods without proper verification (Decision of the European Ombudsman closing the inquiry into complaint 1091/2012/(AN)(RT)AN against the European Commission).
• The European Commission has announced that it has decided, under the EU state aid rules, to approve revised UK plans to subsidise the construction and operation of the new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Home Office has announced a delay to the introduction of injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance introduced under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
• The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, which was due to come into force on 1 October 2014, is now expected to come into force on 1 November 2014. The new commencement date was announced through the passing of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (Commencement No 1) (Amendment and Consequential Amendments) Order 2014.