As the weather becomes even more miserable (unless you are a pupil out sledging instead of in the classroom) and Christmas cheer is but a distant memory, we though it would be a good time to reflect on 2012 and what it meant for PLC Public Sector and its subscribers.
In this post we take a look at our most popular content of 2012 and the new content we have published.
Looking at our usage statistics, it is clear that the following issues are of particular interest to our subscribers:
- Employment issues, including TUPE.
- Freedom of information.
- Academies and other education issues.
- The Localism Act 2011.
- Shared services and partnership working.
- Public procurement issues.
- Judical review.
So without any further ado *drum roll please*, we can reveal that PLC Public Sector’s top ten legal updates for 2012 were:
- PLC Public Sector: looking forward to 2012 (we have also just published our Looking forward to 2013 piece).
- Health and Social Care Act 2012: key provisions for local authorities in England.
- Government to review the public sector equality duty.
- Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 receives Royal Assent.
- OGC publishes procurement policy note on selection and award.
- Bad bargain” leases not void for lack of capacity (Court of Appeal).
- Order commences provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
- Localism Act 2011: second commencement order made.
- Issues associated with issuing judicial review proceedings “promptly” (Court of Appeal).
- Community right to bid for assets of community value comes into force.
Of particular interest to PLC Public Sector subscribers were a number of our “Ask the team” resources including:
- Ask the Team: How do I decide if I have to competitively tender a Part B services contract?
- Ask the Team: What are the risks of awarding a contract for Part B services without going through a procurement process?
- Ask the Team: On a disposal of land is a local authority obliged to take the highest price offered?
- Ask the team: What steps should my authority take to ensure compliance with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012?
- Ask the team: What is the legal status of schools and how do they enter into contracts?
- Ask the team: What are the risks of employees seconded from a local authority being found to have transferred under TUPE?
PLC Public Sector editors also dealt with nearly 900 feedback queries from our subscribers on issues ranging from property, planning, procurement, commercial agreements, shared services and TUPE to traffic offences and anti-social behaviour.
Our maintained content has also proved popular with our most popular resource – an overview of procurement law – being viewed over 10,320 times since it was published. Our top ten maintained resources in 2012 were:
- Public procurement in the UK.
- Freedom of information.
- Ask the team: public procurement FAQs.
- Public procurement case tracker.
- An introduction to judicial review.
- New remedies in public procurement law.
- Services agreement for use by public sector bodies.
- Enforcment toolkit.
- Localism Act 2011.
- Academies under the Academies Act 2010: overview.
- Human Rights Act 1998: overview.
For a list of all the resources that have been published since our launch in 2008, see our new content list.
New content published in 2012 included:
- Localism Act 2011: assets of community value.
- Localism Act 2011: community right to challenge.
- Homelessness: duties and powers of local authorities under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996.
- Localism Act 2011: section 25 Predetermination.
- County courts: toolkit.
- School admissions.
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: public sector implications.
Much of our content is written following requests from subscribers, if there are any resources that you would particularly like PLC Public Sector to produce please e-mail us at: feedback@practicallaw.com.
In 2013, we will be publishing:
- Various notes on the exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
- More housing materials, including notes on demoted and introductory tenancies.
- Shared services agreement.
- Framework agreements for goods and services.
- A suite of materials on the general public sector equality duty and the specific equality duties under the Equality Act 2010.
For a full list of the content that we are planning to produce in 2013, see our provisional publishing schedule.
Finally, 2013 will also see the launch of a series of new regular update blogs. Readers will be able to catch up on the most important developments that we report on in quarterly updates on:
- Local government.
- Housing.
- Freedom of information.
- Public procurement reform.
- The Health and Social Care Act 2012.