REUTERS | Jim Young
29/06/2015

Freedom of information law quarterly digest (April – June 2015)

Our quarterly freedom of information law update blogs focus on the latest developments in freedom of information law under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (EIR). The blog will enable readers advising on freedom of information law to catch up on the most important cases, issues or developments on the topic. This post looks at freedom of information law developments from April to June 2015.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases, issues or developments that are covered, or if you think we have missed something that should be brought to the attention of freedom of information practitioners. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Sharif Karim
25/06/2015

What exactly are the remedies for breach of the Part 4 public procurement regime?

  • by John Bennett
  • Co-author of the looseleaf encyclopedia, EU Public Procurement Law and Practice

The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/102) (PCR 2015) not only transpose the public sector directive (Directive 2014/24/EU); they also include national provisions to support access to public contracts by SMEs. This blog considers what happens if a contracting authority breaches these purely national rules. Deliberate breach is unlikely, if for no other reason than the reputational risk. Accidental breach may happen because the national regime applies to a huge range of very low value contracts and responsibilities are often delegated across different parts of an authority. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Larry Downing
24/06/2015

Court provides useful case management observations on the filing of evidence in judicial review applications

For judicial review practitioners, R (London College of Finance & Accounting) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1688 (Admin) provides some useful case management observations on the filing of evidence in judicial review applications.

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REUTERS | Mike Blake
10/06/2015

Public procurement case digest (May 2015)

May’s case digest includes an ECJ ruling on the meaning of a service concession under Directive 2004/18, and an Advocate General’s opinion on the time limits for bringing an action under the Remedies Directive.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases covered, or think that we have missed a case that should be brought to the attention of public procurement practitioners. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Dado Ruvic
03/06/2015

Public procurement legislation and policy review: March to May 2015

Our second post of this year on the key developments in public procurement legislation and policy that lawyers need to be aware of covers the period from March to May 2015. It does not consider case law as this is covered in our monthly public procurement case digest. For a summary of the latest cases, see Public procurement case digest (April 2015).

Subscribers to Practical Law can keep up to date with the latest public procurement developments by signing up to the Practical Law Public Sector email update (available weekly) or the Practical Law Competition updates (available daily). Updates are also tweeted on the @PracLawProcure Twitter feed.

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REUTERS | Juan Carlos Ulate
02/06/2015

Queen’s Speech: speeding up adoption through uniting services

On 27 May 2015, the Queen’s Speech included the introduction of the Education and Adoption Bill. The actual speech outlined the part of the Bill that relates to failing and coasting schools, and did not mention the adoption aspect. However the Department of Education’s press release “New measures to end delay for children awaiting adoption” dated 23 May 2015, gives a description of what the Bill will introduce in relation to adoption. The gist of it is that the Department of Education will have the power to force local authorities (as adoption agencies) to combine forces and adoption services, if they do not do so within the next two years. The aim is for local authorities to have a bigger pool of adopters to match with children waiting for an adoptive family.

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