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 Legislative and Regulatory Reform Code of Practice (Appointed Day) Order 2014 has brought the Regulators’ Code into force.
• Supporting public service transformation has been published, providing uniform principles by which local partnerships can assess the costs and benefits of proposals for the transformation of public services.

Civil litigation:

• The following Orders come into force on 22 April 2014:
  • the High Court and County Court Jurisdiction (Amendment) Order 2014, which makes changes related to the introduction of a single County Court;
  • the Civil Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 2014, which contains details of new court fees in the High Court and County Court; and
  • the Magistrates’ Courts Fees (Amendment) Order 2014, which amends the Magistrates’ Courts Fees Order 2008.
• In a defamation case, the High Court has refused applications for non-party disclosure of witness statements obtained by police (Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd).
• The Supreme Court and Privy Council have published their Easter 2014 opening hours.
• The Association of Costs Lawyers has published a White Paper, Costs management: the first year.

Education and social services:

• The Court of Appeal has held that “public expenditure” in section 9 of the Education Act 1996 should be interpreted widely to include care costs met from budgets other than the local authority’s education budget (Haining v Warrington Borough Council).
• The DfE has published:
  • its response to a consultation on keeping children safe in education, alongside an amended version of the current statutory safeguarding guidance; and
  • a model lease template (together with explanatory notes) for use by free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools when formulating their lease agreements.
• The Children and Families Act 2014 (Commencement No 2) Order 2014 has been made and brings into force on specified dates certain sections of the Children and Families Act 2014 relating to adoption.
• The following secondary legislation comes into force on 22 April 2014:
  • the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations, which expand the types of evidence that may be accepted to demonstrate domestic violence or child abuse and so qualify a party for legal aid in private family law proceedings;
  • the Child Arrangements Order (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order 2014, which amends secondary legislation under section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014;
  • the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (Family Court: Consequential Provision) (No 2) Order 2014, which amends secondary legislation to reflect the creation of the single family court;
  • the Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014, which establish the framework for the composition of the family court and the basis on which applications in family proceedings are allocated;
  • the Family Court (Contempt of Court) (Powers) Regulations 2014, which provide that judges in the single family court will derive their committal and fining powers from their level of seniority; and
  • the Family Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 2014, which amends the Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008.
• The High Court has appointed separate guardians to safeguard siblings’ interests in adoption placement proceedings (London Borough of Haringey v Musa).

Employment and pensions:

• The Statutory Sick Pay Percentage Threshold (Revocations, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Order 2014 came into force on 6 April 2014, which abolishes the Percentage Threshold Scheme that enabled employers to reclaim some Statutory Sick Pay.
• The government has published the draft Statutory Maternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (Curtailment) Regulations 2014 and the draft Maternity Allowance (Curtailment) Regulations 2014, which deal with the forthcoming new shared parental leave and pay system.
• The EAT has given guidance to employment tribunals on whistleblowing cases (Blackbay Ventures Ltd t/a Chemistree v Gahir).
• The Home Office has published a draft Code of practice for employers: Avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working.
• HMRC has published a webpage with links to its guidance on the new employment-related securities (ERS) online notification and reporting service.
• Acas has launched a portal for the new early conciliation (EC) process, which came into force on 6 April 2014.
• The DCLG has published seven sets of updated actuarial guidance for administering authorities in the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales.

Environment:

• The DECC has published its UK Solar PV Strategy Part 2.

FOI and data protection:

• The MoJ has published a call for evidence on the review of the balance of competences between the UK and the EU in the area of information rights.
• The ICO has published new FOIA guidance on right to recorded information and an updated definition document for wholly-owned companies.
• The government has published the draft Communications Act 2003 (Disclosure of Information) Order 2014, which will allow Ofcom to share information about nuisance calls with other regulatory bodies.
• The DCMS has published an action plan on tackling nuisance telephone calls.
• The Article 29 Working Party has adopted an opinion to assist all data controllers to decide whether to notify individuals of a personal data breach.

Health:

• The DH has published the National Health Service Commissioning Board (Payments to Local Authorities) Directions 2014 and an explanatory note covering the 2014 transfer of funds from the NHS to local authorities.
• The DH has published the government’s response to its consultation on proposals for a Health Special Administration (HSA) procedure for companies.
• The CMA has announced that it will review the proposed merger of Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with Heatherwood and Wexham Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Housing:

• The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) (England) Regulations 2014 and the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Detection of Fraud) (Wales) Regulations 2014 have come into force.
• The DCLG has published its response to its consultation on amending the general consents issued under section 25 of the Local Government Act 1988.

Local government:

• The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (Commencement No 1) Order 2014 has been made, which brought several sections of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 into force from 4 April 2014.
• The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (Commencement No 2) Order 2014 has been made, which brings into force the provisions in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 that require the Comptroller and Auditor General to prepare codes of audit practice for local auditors.
• The draft Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 have been published, reinforcing the fact that the public have the right to use social media to report on local government meetings.
• The Court of Appeal has ruled that a council failed to consult properly over the closure of a day centre (R (LH) v Shropshire Council).
• The DCLG has written to all local authority chief executives in England, informing them how the Secretary of State proposes to exercise his new power to direct local authorities to comply with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

Property and planning:

• The Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 will come into force on 6 April 2014, which correct and amend the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 and introduce fines for certain breaches.
• The Court of Appeal has:
  • upheld the High Court’s refusal to grant a renewal tenancy under section 30(1)(c) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and ruled that a history of litigation between the landlord and tenant was a reason connected with the use and management of the holding (Horne & Meredith Properties v Cox and another); and
  • held that a notice purporting to exercise a break clause in a lease was ineffective because it failed to include wording specified by the lease (Siemens Hearing Instruments Ltd v Friends Life Ltd).
•  The Land Registry has updated Practice Guides 40 and 41.

Public procurement and state aid:

• The Government Procurement Service has announced that it will now trade as the Crown Commercial Service.
• The ECJ has given a preliminary ruling on the right to the payment of compensation for public transport obligations (Compagnia Transporti Pubblici SpA v Region of Campania and Province of Naples).
• The European Commission has announced that it has introduced a new mandatory state aid complaint form.

Regulation and enforcement:

• The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations 2014 have been laid before Parliament, which amend the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.