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 Local Government Association has published a guide on health and care quality systems for local leaders.
- The Welsh Government has published a consultation on revising of the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice for Wales.
Central government:
- HM Treasury has announced that the Chancellor will deliver his Autumn Statement to Parliament on Wednesday 25 November 2015 alongside the Spending Review.
Children’s services:
- The High Court has:
- considered the test for removal of a child who had been placed with a prospective adopter (RY v Southend Borough Council); and
- allowed a council’s application to withdraw its care proceedings after having heard evidence from treating clinicians and instructed independent experts that revealed medical omissions in a suspected baby-shaking case (Re L (Application to Withdraw: Head Injuries – Unknown Cause)).
Civil litigation:
- The MoJ has published the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments (Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005) Regulations 2015, which make changes to the Civil Procedure Rules and facilitate entry into force of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. The changes come into effect on 1 October 2015.
Commercial:
- The draft Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations 2015 have been laid before Parliament. The draft regulations set out that the amount of total turnover prescribed by the Secretary of State for the purposes of section 54(2)(b) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is £36 million.
Employment and pensions:
- The EAT has allowed an appeal against the decision of an employment judge that an employee had been fairly dismissed in circumstances where the investigating officer’s recommendations had been heavily influenced by input from Human Resources (Ramphal v Department for Transport).
- BIS has announced a package of measures to improve compliance with the national minimum wage and, when it is introduced in 2016, the national living wage.
- The Scottish government has published its programme for Scotland for 2015-16, A Stronger Scotland, which outlines plans for employment tribunal fees and addressing gender inequality in the workplace.
- The Pensions Ombudsman has held that it was maladministration for a Local Government Pension Scheme employer to consider whether to approve a deferred member’s early retirement with unreduced benefits under the “rule of 85” only as at a “trigger event” (Determination in a complaint by Miss Jacqueline Elliott).
Environment:
- The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2015 have been made and will come into force on 1 October 2015.
- The European Commission has published a roadmap of its review of the effectiveness of Commission Recommendation 2014/70/EU of 22 January 2014 laying down minimum principles for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons (such as shale gas) using high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
- The Mayor of London has introduced a low emission zone in London for non-road mobile machinery used in construction projects.
FOI and data protection:
- The FTT(IR) has ruled that information about a headteacher’s absence and about complaints made to the school should be withheld from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 2000 as they constituted personal data and disclosure would not be fair (Innes v Information Commissioner).
Housing:
- The Court of Appeal has held that local housing authorities are not under a statutory duty to carry out a hazard inspection under section 4 of the Housing Act 2004 where a complaint about accommodation has been made by a homeless applicant (Firoozmand v London Borough of Lambeth).
- The Local Government Ombudsman has published its report on two separate complaints concerning a council’s failure to inform purchasers of conditions attached to a restriction under section 157 of the Housing Act 1985 when they bought their former council properties under the right to buy scheme.
Local government law:
- The Department of Health and Public Health England have published a consultation on the review of indicators in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
Property and planning:
- The Land Registry has:
- The DCLG has:
- The Welsh Government has published a consultation paper seeking views on its proposed revision of national planning policy in relation to retail centres.
- The transitional period under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 for projects that had already appointed a CDM co-ordinator under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 will end on 6 October 2015.
Public procurement and state aid:
- The Advocate General has given opinions on:
- the proof required from a tenderer when it seeks to relies on the capacity of another entity to demonstrate its compliance with criteria relating to its technical and/or professional ability (PARTNER Apelski Dariusz v Zarząd Oczyszczania Miasta); and
- whether contracting authorities can require tenderers to provide minimum hourly wage declarations as part of their bid (RegioPost GmbH & Co KG v Stadt Landau).
- The European Commission has published the reports of each of the member states on their compliance with the state aid rules for the provision of services of general economic interest in 2012 to 2014.
- The ECJ has given its ruling in a preliminary reference from the Italian Supreme Court on the calculation of interest when recovering unlawful state aid (A2A SpA v Agenzia delle Entrate).
Regulation and enforcement:
- The Local Government Association has published guidance on the role of local authorities in tackling serious and organised crime.
Practical Law In brief