REUTERS | Larry Downing
08/10/2014

The remedies for failing to comply with the new below threshold regime

“Simple can be harder than complex.”  Steve Jobs

Given the complex public procurement regime, with its various categories of contracts, exclusions and separate pieces of legislation and case law, procurement practitioners were hoping the new regulations would deliver some welcome clarity. Having spent time reviewing the government’s consultation on the draft Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (draft 2015 regulations), it is clear that, in some key areas, public procurement risks becoming even more complicated. 

This post seeks views on one such area, that is, what are the remedies for failing to comply with the government’s new below threshold regime? Continue reading →

REUTERS | Ina Fassbender
26/09/2014

Parental contact orders: schools’ hotline FAQs

Practical Law Public Sector addresses the questions that schools may ask local authorities regarding day-to-day school management and sets out the legal issues to consider when responding:

This FAQ looks at what a school can do when a divorced father wishes to attend his son’s school’s parents’ evening. For details of all our school hotline queries, please see Practice note, Schools hotline FAQs. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Alex Domanski
24/09/2014

Draft Public Contracts Regulations 2015: What’s changing for health and social care contracts?

On 19 September 2014, the Cabinet Office published  a consultation on the transposition of the Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU and on the draft Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Draft Regulations) which will implement it.

One of the issues most eagerly anticipated was how the government intended to give effect to the “light touch regime” described in the Directive, a new process applicable to contracts which currently largely fall outside the procurement regime. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Brian Snyder
23/09/2014

Freedom of information law quarterly digest (July – September 2014)

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 July to September 2014.

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 | John Kolesidis
16/09/2014

(In)valid VEATs: the European Court of Justice’s judgment in Italian Interior Ministry v Fastweb SpA

Much ink has been spilt on the thorny question as to whether and to what extent publication of a voluntary ex ante transparency notice (VEAT Notice) offers contracting authorities and utilities protection against a remedy of a declaration of ineffectiveness in the national courts.  Indeed, on the procurement conference circuit, it is rare to find an event at which one or more speakers does not give his or her considered view on the effectiveness (or otherwise) of VEAT Notices as a mitigation strategy.  However, until earlier this year there was little judicial precedent on the subject.

In this post, Warsha Kalé, Associate Director at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, considers the judgment in Italian Interior Ministry v Fastweb SpA. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Toby Melville
16/09/2014

Local authority chief executives: How much to pay and are they worth it?

How much should a council pay its chief executive? Should it have one at all? How does the job of a chief executive of a local authority compare with that of a FTSE 250 company? Does higher pay reflect better performance?

These are some of the questions that the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee addresses in its report, Local government Chief Officers’ remuneration, published on 12 September 2014.

Continue reading →